Jane's Girl
by SarahShalomDavid
Summary: Jane finds herself embarking on a journey that tests her limits along with her relationships with those around her when a family are murdered by Hoyt on Christmas Eve and the youngest child is kidnapped. The lack of evidence begins to get to her and what bothers her more is the sudden change in M.O. Multiple character appearances. Rizzles Romance.
1. Christmas Eve

It was Christmas Eve in Boston, Massachusetts and the snow was falling slowly from the grey skies above before coating the ground with a blanket of crisp white. Smoke billowed from the top of the chimney of the house whilst the multi-coloured lights flickered in the bay window at the front of the house from the Christmas Tree that resided there.

The tree was decorated with red and gold baubles along with tinsel. It also had various ornaments from trips abroad hanging from various branches such as an Eiffel Tower ornament which was covered in a silver glitter from their trip to Paris and a Palace Guard ornament from their trip to London. Mr Thomas Jethro Harmon and Mrs Michelle Jane Harmon had gone on various trips together before their children were born and a few since then too. They were rather fond of travelling and believed strongly in the benefits that the trips would give their children as they would learn about other cultures around the world. The birth of their children however had lowered the amount of trips that they went on each year as the trips now had to fit around the school schedule of their children.

Mr and Mrs Harmon now had four children; 13 year old Christian Lucas, 11 year old Tyler Sean, 8 year old Kelly Elyse and 4 year old Alessandra Mai. All of the children had dark hair like their parents whilst Alessandra was the only one who had inherited her mother's curls along with her father's bright blue eyes. Alessandra was the image of her mother with the only difference being her bright blue eyes whilst the other children resembled their father much more than they did Lindsay. Their mannerisms and behaviourisms were much more like their mother however whereas Alessandra was quiet, reserved and much more like her father.

Beneath the tree there was multiple presents wrapped in shiny paper and separated into four different piles with the children's names written in glitter upon their stockings that were leaning up against their piles. Christian's presents were wrapped in gold, Tyler's were wrapped in green, Kelly's were wrapped in silver paper and Alessandra's were wrapped in a red version of the same shimmer paper that the other children's presents were wrapped within. The presents were wrapped in various shapes and there was a couple that were not wrapped but instead had a simple bow pressed onto the side of them instead as they had been set up to play with, one of which was Kelly's doll house, Christian's and Tyler's baseball bats and Alessandra's doll boat, all of which was made by their father who was a very good craftsmen when it came to woodwork.

He enjoyed making gifts for the children and Alessandra loved to help him make new things especially when it came to making the toys that they would take to the children's home each year. The boys enjoyed playing sports in the cul-de-sac with the other children whilst Kelly rather liked to play with the 9 year old girl; Avery who lived next door and they were either in one of their bedrooms or up in the tree house that Kelly's father had made for his children ten years ago. Alessandra however was much happier when she was either reading one of the many books that were purchased for her or being in the basement with her father or even cooking with her mother but the concept of playing with other children wasn't something that appealed to the young girl at all despite the best efforts of her mother. She would however have a huge smile painted on her face each time she emerged from her father's basement with sawdust in her hair and paint on her cheeks.

The four children were fast asleep in their beds, dressed warmly in their new pyjamas and wrapped in their new fluffy blankets. It was a Christmas Eve tradition that each year they would get a box each which contained a new set of pyjamas, a fluffy blanket, fluffy socks, new underwear along with a sachet of hot chocolate, and a packet of mini marshmallows. The children would also get a new stuffed toy each and this year Christian's toy was the Boston Red Sox mascot 'Wally', Tyler's toy was 'Blades' the Boston Bruins team mascot, Kelly's new stuffed friend was a ballerina and Alessandra's was a bear dressed in a marine's uniform which had been her father's previous profession. The little one always thought that her father being an ex-marine was one of the best things ever and learning the various things that he could teach her was one of her favourite things to do.

Thomas and Michelle were laying in their marital bed with her head resting softly upon his chest, their breathing was heavy and a slight sheen of sweat was apparent on their skin - both aspects were signs of their previous activities. Michelle was starting to fall asleep when they heard a noise, making her eyes instantly go wide and she sat upright. Thomas got out of bed, "I'll go and see", he said softly to his wife as he threw on a set of boxer shorts and his bath robe as he slid his feet into his slippers to make his way down the hallway and towards his children's bedrooms.

Michelle was sat in her bed as Thomas passed Alessandra's bedroom and pushed open her door slightly to check on her. The curly haired little girl was fast asleep in her bed and surrounded by multiple fluffy toys and clutching her new soft fluffy blanket to her chest. The blue eyed man smiled at his little girl and pulled her door closed again but this time his instincts told him to close the door properly although carefully so that he didn't awake the child.

The ex-marine then walked in the opposite direction, towards the stairs and on the way he checked the bedrooms of the other three children; Kelly's, Christian's and then Tyler's. All of the children were fine although Christian was awake and sat up in his bed, "Just going to get a drink Dad", the young teen said simply as he got out of bed. The man nodded, "No opening your presents", the silver haired man said simply with a smirk as he made his way back to his bedroom, mistakenly thinking that the noise was his son and not realising that it was the noise that awoke the young boy and not the other way around.

It was minutes later when he was just climbing back into his bed beside his wife, "It was just Christian, he's gone down to get a drink", he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her. That was when the sound of Christian screaming echoed throughout the house. Both parents spring out of bed as if they had been toy jack in a boxes that had been wound up tightly and suddenly set free. Michelle and Thomas both ran down the stairs after the ex-marine had grabbed his firearm from the bed side cabinet. Christian was on the floor on his knees with wide eyes and beside him was an ageing man with a gun in one hand and a scalpel in the other. A silver medical issue scalpel which was pressed firmly to the teenage boy's throat.

"Let him go", Thomas demanded as he held his gun up and pointed it towards the man that was currently threatening his first born child.

The evil eyed man glared at the ex-marine and laughed in a manic manner whilst he shook his head, "I think it would be best if you put that down don't you?", he asked as he pressed the sharp metal to the boy's neck causing a trail of fresh red to trail down the column of his neck. "In the time it takes you to pull that trigger, I could have already slit his throat", he said simply as if he were commenting on the weather rather than the boy's life.

Michelle was beside her husband and clutching tightly to his arm with her head buried to the side of him, her heart rate was heightened and she feared for the life of her son along with their own and also the lives of the three children sleeping upstairs.

The curly haired, tanned women was wrong however when she assumed that all of the three children upstairs were asleep because Kelly and Tyler were stood frozen behind them on the staircase and staring at the man who currently held a knife to their brother's throat. The man smirked as he looked past Michelle and her husband to the stair case where two children were stood. "Come to join the party", the evil man commented towards the two children causing the woman to turn rapidly in her husbands arms.

The dark eyed woman looked shocked, "Go... go back to bed", she stuttered towards the children attempting but failing to hide her nervousness and fear.

The crazed man chuckled and shook his head to the still frozen children, "You will do no such thing", he stated firmly. Thomas wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her close to his side as he attempted to work out how he would get rid of this man and save his family but part of him new that they were in grave danger. He knew that families had been murdered recently around the state and that so far there hadn't been a single survivor. Not one. Not even a child.

It was almost two hours later when the cruel man made his way into Alessandra's bedroom. The only child who had not come down to investigate the noise. Her parents often joked that not even a hurricane would awake their youngest child as she was such a heavy sleeper. Alessandra sat up in bed as she heard the door opening and someone step inside, "Santa?", she questioned softly, "Is that you?". She had an air of innocence to her as she asked the question with a tilted head, and she was rubbing her eyes as she tugged her blanket close to her along with her bear which wore it's marine uniform.

The man hesitated with his hand on the doorknob before he looked at his other hand where a blood covered scalpel resided, "Look Santa", the little girl said not waiting for the answer and simply assuming it was Santa, she held up her bear, "He has a marine uniform like daddy used to wear".

He didn't understand what made him stop, what made him listen to the young girl or what made him drop the scalpel. That night however it was exactly what he did. He did however move forward and kneel down, telling her that she could go with Santa. An offer that of course she thought sounded good, she was after all just a child.

He wrapped her in her new fluffy blanket as she clutched her bear to her chest. The man lifted her up into his arms and with her head hidden against him, he walked through the hallway where he stepped over Michelle's body who had attempted to get to their daughter before her death. Carrying the child, he then walked down the stairs and past the other four bloodied bodies of the other family members.

He placed her in the front seat of his truck and moved to get into his side of the car, it was still dark outside and she hadn't seen him properly. Her innocence allowed her to think that it was Santa despite the differences in the typical appearance of Santa that was depicted within the majority of Christmas imagery.

The little girl curled up in the seat of the truck, the innocent child didn't realise the danger that she was in and instead she saw it simply as a trip with Santa or a dream. The little girl was completely unaware that her parents and siblings were deceased at home. A home that she might never see again.


	2. Christmas Morning - Part I

It was Christmas Day in Boston, Massachusetts and the snow had fallen down causing the street to be coated in a white blanket which hid the grass, bushes, flowers and roads. There were no footprints in the snow or even tracks from any vehicles visible in the pure white snow covering Beacon Hill. The lights were off in the majority of the homes that lined the street and the very few that were on were the ones with little children who had awoken early to see if Santa Claus had visited them the previous night. It was quiet outside and the snow had stopped falling, at least for now it had.

Inside a darkened house, in a dark bedroom was a honey blonde woman wearing a silk short pyjama set and sleeping peacefully with her head on another woman's chest. It was however not just any other woman but in fact it was her best friend; Detective Jane Rizzoli. The woman had yet again stayed the night at Maura's and was now in her bed and holding her close. Doctor Maura Isles lay peacefully in the other woman's arms, her head on her chest, one leg over one of Jane's and her hand was holding onto Jane's. Their linked hands were in front of Maura's face and resided upon Jane's chest which was gently rising and falling in rhythm with her calm breathing. Jane wore a pair of shorts with a tank top and her hair was flowing around her head as if it were a halo that surrounded her peaceful looking face, her arm was wrapped around the slender waist of the Medical Examiner in her arms and it held her securely in a protective motion.

A slither of light was beginning to enter the room through the tiniest gap in the curtain when the honey blonde woman began to awake from her slumber on Christmas morning and as her eyes opened slightly she noticed that she was again in a position that she often found herself in when she awoke at the side of her best friend. Maura Isles couldn't help but smile where she lay, her heart fluttered and she was clearly happy to wake up in Jane's arms with the feeling of being protected by the Detective. She instinctively squeezed the hand that held hers and looked up towards the woman's face.

Jane tugged the woman even closer to her as she awoke from her deep sleep and had moved so that both of her arms wrapped around the smaller woman in her arms. Maura simply grinned as the woman moved in her bed and took her into her arms fully, "Good Morning Jane", she said softly as she looked up towards the closed eyes in front of her.

"Morning Maur'", Detective Jane Rizzoli mumbled as she briefly tightened her arms around Maura as a greeting. Suddenly Jane opened one eye and then a grin spread over her face, "Merry Christmas Maura", she said softly looking towards the woman laying safely in her arms.

Maura's hand slid up to cup Jane's cheek gently as she smiled brightly, "Merry Christmas Jane", she said softly to the curly haired Italian woman.

Their lips gravitated towards each others gradually, they were finally going to get the kiss that the both of them had wanted for so long. That was until their phones began to ring. The two women groaned in frustration and pulled away from each other, Jane instantly grabbed her phone from the bedside table and it took a few second for Maura to do the same with hers as both of their cell phones had previously been on charge on their bedside tables.

"Rizzoli", the Detective barked down the phone at whoever had been annoying enough to interrupt them at such a vital moment.

The Detective groaned, "Again? Couldn't he take the damn day off?", the comment in turn earned her a glare from the woman she was currently sharing a bed with which resulted in Jane rolling her eyes slightly as she turned away and planted her feet firmly on the floor beside the bed.

"He what?!", Jane half shouted down the phone as Maura sat up in bed on her own phone, "I'll be there soon". By the time that Maura was finished with her phone call, the Detective was already dressed and running her hand through her hair, "Meet you downstairs? I'll make the coffee while you get ready", she said softly.

"We'll find the child Jane", she said softly, knowing that the missing child was the factor that the woman was most likely focusing on. Maura climbed out of bed and began to grab clothing from her closet so that she could start to get dressed and she put her hand up to cup the other woman's cheek softly, "We'll find her".

Jane sighed and nodded, "You're guessing Maur'", she highlighted as she stepped away, "I'll be downstairs".

As the dark haired Detective walked away, Maura looked down towards the floor and sighed heavily, she had been seconds away from what she had wanted for such a long time. She had wanted to feel the kiss of the woman she was in love with for years and yet they had again been interrupted, she was starting to wonder if she would ever feel the softness of the Detective's lips against her own. She brushed a stray, lone salty tear from her cheek and grabbed the clothing she planned to wear from her closet before she moved towards her en-suite bathroom in order to get dressed.

Downstairs, Detective Jane Rizzoli was contemplating shooting the contraption that Maura called her 'Coffee Machine' as she attempted to figure out how to create two mugs of coffee so that they could use their to-go cups to take their coffee with them to the crime scene and wake themselves up with the much needed caffeine boost. She didn't bother with any food because she didn't feel up to eating and she doubted that Maura would feel up to it either as they not only wouldn't have time but they also would be going to a crime scene that involved children. Those crime scenes were always the hardest. It was those crime scenes that bothered them the most no matter how many they had to attend. It was those crime scenes that seemed to haunt their minds and stay with them long after the case was solved. It was those cases that came to mind when people asked what the worst thing they had seen was. It was those cases that caused law enforcement officers to seek the counselling offered and those cases that made them hold their own children closer than ever before.

When Maura was dressed and ready to leave she entered the kitchen to find Jane sat at the kitchen island with two to-go cups in front of her which were surprisingly filled with coffee and when she looked to her left she was even more surprised to see no evidence of instant coffee and her coffee machine in one piece. She often wondered if she would come down one morning to find that the Detective had shot her coffee machine with her BPD issued firearm as she knew that the machine often frustrated the Detective. This was why she always left the coffee machine set up sot hat the other woman wouldn't have to do too many of the steps that were necessary in order to create a cup of the delicious coffee.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner watched Jane from the doorway for a moment, observing her body language and posture. She knew that the loss of her child months previously could have an effect on her response to the missing child as she knew that the Detective was still coping with the loss of the child that they had begun to prepare for. They had already started to try and work out what they needed and Maura had already begun shopping for the little one. Jane was starting to get a bump and Maura often found herself speaking to the bare belly of the Detective. Both found themselves excited and the baby was already theirs rather than just Jane's and it was never referred to as Casey's despite it being genetically his. Maura found herself quite excited at the prospect of having a child with the woman she was in love with and the loss of the infant had taken them both by surprise. It was hard for them to cope with and even three months down the line, at times the hurt still flashed into their hearts.

Maura cleared her throat and smiled sadly at the woman who seemed deflated against the counter, "Are you ready?", she asked softly as she flicked her head towards the door and stepped forward towards her.

Jane nodded with a matching sad smile, "We have a four year old child to find", she said softly as she stood up and handed one of the cups of coffee to Maura before walking towards the door, grabbing her coat on the way. She slid the coat on as Maura began to put on her own and both moved towards the car. The honey blonde Chief Medical Examiner didn't bother to attempt to drive and instead made her way to the passenger's side door of the Detective's police issue vehicle as she knew that the Italian woman preferred to drive herself and she trusted her enough to permit that. It also made much more sense for them to go in one car rather than for them to go in two separate ones.

They drove in silence on the way to the crime scene until they paused at a set of traffic lights and the Medical Examiner turned to the driver, asking softly, "Do you think he really took her?". The question had been playing on her mind ever since the woman on the phone said that Hoyt had taken a child with him.

The question posed was also one that had played on her mind too and she sighed heavily as she began to drive again, "I don't know Maur', it goes against his usual MO but something could have happened to make him change it". The curly haired woman continued to drive towards the family home that had now become a crime scene, "Korsak said that a neighbour saw the little girl taken away from the house by a male and had originally thought that it was the father", she said as she pulled up to the house, "That was until this morning when they realised that the door was wide open and went to investigate".

Maura nodded and put her hand out to cover Jane's, "We'll find her", she said softly towards the Detective before looking at the house that had once been a home but was now cornered off with yellow crime scene tape with various law enforcement officers and crime scene examiners surrounding it.

Jane sighed heavily as she looked at her, "But will she be alive?", she questioned as she stepped out of the car, closing the door and walking towards the crime scene. Maura got out of the car, closing her door but paused as she watched the scene for a moment. Jane was ducking beneath the yellow tape beside an officer after flashing her badge at the young man, Korsak and Frost were to the side talking between each other before turning towards the Detective. Both men looked tired and it was clear by their facial expressions and body language that it was a rough scene.

Maura was soon beside the officer and flashing her badge in order to gain access to the crime scene of the Harmon family home. The well dressed Medical Examiner made her way to Jane's side as they discussed what they knew about the case so far in preparation of going into the house beside them so that she could examine the bodies that the serial killer had left behind.

"Have they searched the house for the missing child?", Jane asked the men in front of her.

They both nodded, "Yeah she's not there Janie", Korsak said softly, recognising that the case was getting to her already.

The Italian woman nodded but looking at the house, she simply stated, "I'll check again". Before the others had a chance to comment, she had gone into the house and left them behind her to stand in the front garden of the house.


	3. Christmas Morning - Part II

Jane's leather boots hit the carpeted floor of the living room that sat just beyond the front door before the screen door swung shut behind her, the majority of law enforcement were still outside and there were only a few people left within the house that had previously been the home of a happy and rather loving family. Her eyes instantly scanned the room as she stood in the same spot for a few minutes so that she could analyse the scene in front of her as well as to listen out for any sign of the child.

The once white carpet was now painted red with the blood of those that had once spent their Sunday afternoons sprawled out on blankets, sofas and cushions as they watched a movie. The sofa where the children had once watched their favourite cartoons was now splattered with the evidence of a horrific Christmas Eve and had somehow been moved slightly in what seemed to have been a struggle. The walls that had once protected the family from the outside world now resembled those from a horror movie. Photos were not hanging as straight as they had been on the wall and the glass in the frames were no longer spotless as they were now tainted with blood splatter.

The Detective's dark eyes continued to scan the room, taking in the appearance of the Christmas Tree in the bay window where the lights still twinkled as though it were a normal Christmas morning and as if there was nothing at all wrong. Something in her made her step forward, her hands already covered in department issue gloves that were mandatory to wear at crime scenes and she knelt down beside the tree, sighing heavily before she flicked the switch causing the lights to go out on the Christmas tree.

From her position near the floor she could see all of the various presents that were ready for the children to tear into and the few presents that were out and ready to be played with when the children awoke. She briefly closed her eyes and pressed the back of her right wrist to her head, she hated these cases the most. The cases that involved children were the hardest for all of them. They always were.

Detective Jane Rizzoli looked around the room from where she was positioned, kneeling down slightly beside the Christmas tree as her mind began to analyse the scene. She stood up to move around the room carefully, she didn't want to disturb too much although she knew that the crime scene unit had already been in order to collect the evidence and photograph the scene. The woman knelt down to open cupboards before closing them again. She knew that there was a chance that the others had been right and that Charles Hoyt had in fact taken the child from the home but it was against everything that they had known about him so far and it went against his usual M.O.

She could tell by the positioning of the father's body that he had attempted to protect his family, along with the multiple defensive wounds on his body but she knew that his efforts had been futile. Jane looked over to the other three bodies in the room and her left hand drifted to her stomach without a conscious thought concerning the action.

It had been only six weeks since she had lost her unborn child and seeing the scene that lay before her had reminded her of the infant. Jane hadn't long gotten used to the idea of having a baby when she was forced to grieve for the little one that she had never been able to hold. The little one had never been named officially because she hadn't progressed far enough in her pregnancy to get to that stage but the little one had been referred to by her and Maura simply as 'Angioletto' which translates in Italian as 'Little Angel'. She had spent weeks on Maura's sofa after that day, crying with Maura's arms wrapped around her and now faced with the scene in front of her, admittedly she was struggling a little. Not of course that she would mention this to anyone.

The dark haired woman stepped forward and for a moment she had been tempted to remove the blanket from the back of the sofa and lay it over the little girl that lay not far from it. As though she were simply sleeping. She knew however that Maura was going to need to perform her preliminary examinations soon so she took a breath and stepped back.

Jane turned and began to walk up the carpeted stairs with hand carved hand rails going up the sides of the wall, she couldn't resist running her gloved finger along the intricate carvings of the wood as it was clear that someone had taken great care in carving the pattern into the wood before varnishing it carefully. She followed the blood that led her from the three bodies that lay in the front room to another on the landing.

She glanced to the side and pushed the door open slightly as she entered the first bedroom, she loooked around at the room and noticed the quantity of Boston Red Sox memorabilia. It was a collection that she would be proud herself to own. She stepped into the room, going deeper into the young boy's bedroom where she opened the cupboards and closet to check for the missing young girl. She heard the door downstairs and the soft sound of heels on the carpeted floor below her and knew that Maura was now going to have to examine the bodies.

Jane looked up at the wall above the bed at a large photo canvas that had been hung there and she smiled softly at the sight. It appeared to be a photo of all of the family together, they were at Fenway Park together and the Sox mascot was visible behind them in the shot. Jane found herself looking at the happy facial expressions that each family member held so that she had that to hold in her mind rather than just the imagery of the crime scene. She reached out her left hand and ran her finger lightly over the little girl in the photo. The little girl who still had not been found. Jane found herself hoping that the little girl was safe, sleeping somewhere in the house and unaware of the horrific crimes that had happened in her home although the Detective in her knew that it was a rather foolish and delusional thought.

Jane stepped out of the room slowly, she was still listening to the sounds around the house and she could now hear Korsak and Frost downstairs with Maura. She couldn't hear exactly what they were saying however and concentrated on her task at hand. She was checking methodically for the child as well as for anything that may be important at the same time.

Her leather boots made a gentle sound as she stepped into the next bedroom, which seemed to be themed on the Boston Bruin's and had sports gear in the corner of the room. Again, she found herself checking the possible hiding spaces in the room and again she found herself hoping.

Closing the door behind her, she stepped out of the room and walked down the hallway a little further. She opened another door to find the bedroom of Mr and Mrs Harmon. She noticed how the sheets had been torn back and how a slither of light leaked in through the curtains. Jane repeated the actions of the previous rooms by again checking the closets and again she failed to find the child.

She didn't give up however and closed the door as she stepped out of the room. She had to be careful when she went to the next room as it required her stepped over the body of Mrs Harmon. She opened the door to find a room filled with everything pink, fluffy and covered in glitter. The name 'Kelly' was on the door in pink, glitter covered wooden letters much like the wooden letters from the previous bedrooms which had stated 'Christian' and 'Tyler'. She looked around the room, opening doors and cupboards to check for the missing child before her eyes fell upon a framed photo that sat on the bedside table. It was a photo of the little girl that now lay downstairs but in this photo she was smiling happily as she posed in a ballet position whilst dressed from head to toe in pink. She had to remind herself to stay in check and not let her emotions get the better of her because she had a job to do.

Carefully she left the room, closing the door behind her and stepped closer to the next room, she found a bathroom next with an obvious sea theme. She noticed the toy boats in the bath tub, the photo of the father in his marine uniform as he stood in front of a ship with his wife, and the hand carved wood that seemed to fill the room. It was clear that each wooden item in the home had been handmade and she found that to be quite impressive.

When she was satisfied that she knew that nobody was in there and that there was nothing of any value to the investigation, she again left the room. She checked the closet next and had to bend down to see towards the back. Part of her prayed that the little girl would be safely tucked in the closet behind the warm and fluffy towels but she wasn't there.

From the position of the mother's body, Jane assumed that the woman had been attempted to reach her little girl. She hypothesised that Hoyt had killed the others and in a last attempt to save her remaining child, she attempted to get to her but the painted red of the woman's night clothes highlighted to her that it had failed. Again her hand drifted to her stomach and she forced it down before she turned to the last room. Her hand reached out and pushed the door open further. The name on the door read 'Alessandra'.

Jane stepped into the room to find shelves of books, more books than had been in the other rooms combined and a desk with a microscope sat on it. She glanced around at all of the educational materials and wondered if this is what Maura's bedroom had looked like when she was a little girl. She looked at the walls and noticed the awards and certificates that the little girl had from science fairs and other educational events. The Detective also noticed the handmade toys scattered around the room although some of them seemed as though the child had made them which the Detective hypothesised was in fact the case and that the father let the little one join in on his woodwork hobby. She repeated her actions again by opening the doors and closets so that she could look for the little girl. This simply repeated the same outcome however as the Italian woman failed to find the child.

She was stood with her back to the door when she heard Maura coming up the stairs, Jane's eyes were scanning the room as she took note of the bedding that had been pulled back and it appeared as if part of the bedding was missing as the others seemed to have an extra blanket compared to this one. Each of the other of the children's beds had a fluffy blanket and a stuffed toy on them but this one didn't have either which led the Detective to believe that they had been taken along with the child. She couldn't help but be glad that at least the little girl had something that might give her a little piece of comfort in the confusion of all of this drama that seemed to be happening around her.

Jane stepped into the room further again and picked up a china doll that sat on the side. It appeared to be very much like the little girl who had gone missing as the doll hard dark curls and bright blue eyes. It wore a silk blue dress with a matching bow in its hair along with white tights and blue doll shoes. Jane looked at the photos on the wall of the little girl, grinning with her father, winning awards and smiling with her family before looking at the doll again. The Detective sighed heavily, "Why'd he take her Maur'?", she asked without looking up at the honey blonde Medical Examiner, "Why break his M.O. and take a child?".

 **Author's Note: Thank you to 'sweetkid45', 'dd113' and 'luckypenguinbuddy' for the reviews on this story. Chapter four will (most likely) be Maura's view as she enters the house after Jane...so basically her version of this chapter. I have the first 25 chapters planned out and aim for around 2,000 words per chapter (not including any author's notes).**


	4. Christmas Morning - Part III

Maura's mind was focused on her best friend and the woman she almost kissed; Jane Rizzoli, and her eyes were cast towards the window that still shone with the lights from the Christmas Tree. She knew that the case was going to be hard on Jane from the fact that the woman insisted upon checking the house again despite being told that the little girl had been taken. She knew that it would be hard from the look that had come across Jane's face when the call had come in. She knew it would be hard from the experience of staying up late into the night, holding the sobbing woman tightly to her as they mourned the loss of the baby that they never even got to hold.

The lights switched off and Maura forced herself to turn her attention to the detectives in front of her, "She'll be okay", Detective Frost said gently to her in a calming manner as he softly placed his hand upon her upper arm.

After listening to what the detectives knew about the case so far, Doctor Maura Isles stepped towards the house, her heels clicking on the hard surface of the brick path that led to the door and her hair blowing slightly in the cold winter's breeze before she reached out with her left hand to open the screen door and gave it a slight tug in order to pull it open. She stepped forward and into the house as the screen door swung closed behind her. The sound of the door echoed slightly in the otherwise silent house and she knew that Jane heard her enter.

She could hear doors opening and closing upstairs and sighed softly to herself, briefly closing her eyes. She looked around, first at the Christmas Tree where multiple gifts lay beneath it, all wrapped in various shiny colours of paper and some neatly topped with ribbons and bows. She smiled softly at the sight of the handmade toys that hadn't been wrapped but the smile dropped when she noticed the blood splatter that coated parts of the toys and presents.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner continued to look around at her surroundings, trying to take in as much as she could about the scene so that she could be as accurate as possible with her report and so that she could understand the case in much more detail. The colour red tainted the majority of the surfaces in the room.

Maura Isles stepped into the room a little further and knelt beside the first female body. She slipped her gloves onto her manicured hands and brushed a finger along the girl's temple to brush a stray strand of hair from her face before closing her dark eyes gently. She took the information she needed including her liver temperature in order to estimate the time of death before she gently did what Jane had been tempted to do. She covered her, using a sheet however and not the blood stained blanket that Jane had contemplated using.

She repeated the same action with the first two male bodies before moving to the third male. The third male, she knew to be the father of the previous three victims that she had examined briefly and covered neatly with white sheets. She lifted Thomas' arm gently, noting the obvious defensive markings on his arms where she hypothesised that he attempted to fight his attacker, most likely in order to defend his family. She wasn't a woman who guessed however hypothesising based on factual evidence was perfectly acceptable.

The well-educated woman again extracted a sheet from a sealed packet held within her bag in order to place it carefully over the body before standing carefully. Korsak and Frost entered the house as she was standing up, her heels making her slightly unbalanced on the thick carpet despite being used to them. Detective Frost was glad to have the bodies covered up having already thrown up on the first time he had entered the house, however the other law enforcement officers understood as many others had felt sick too.

The eldest of the two men cleared his throat, "What have we got Doc?", he asked quietly towards the woman who he knew was trying to hold it together despite being emotionally affected by it. He stepped closer to her but not close enough to invade her personal space, he was also very careful as to not step on any evidence.

"The female along with the two youngest males were shot in the chest with a single bullet each whilst the youngest male also had a linear laceration to the neck", the Medical Examiner explained professionally, although subconsciously avoiding referring to them as children as the loss of Jane's infant was still so fresh in her mind.

Korsak nodded, "So they died from their gunshot wounds?".

"I can't confirm that until I get them back to the morgue", Maura replied in her usual fashion, "However I can confirm that it is a possibility due to the locations of the gunshot wounds and that the laceration to the youngest male's neck isn't deep enough that it would've killed him".

Frost was quiet as the woman spoke and it was Korsak that continued to ask the questions, "And the father?", he probed gently.

Maura glanced briefly over at the covered body, "He has multiple abrasions, bruises and lacerations on his body, especially on his hands and his arms which were most likely obtained from attempting to fight his attacker. His attack seems much more brutal than that of the...". She couldn't say the word 'children', she simply couldn't bring herself to say the word despite the years that she had worked in the field and the horrors that she had previously seen, she just couldn't say it and she knew that it was because of the baby. In that moment, she realised how strongly the loss of Angioletto had affected her.

The two detectives understood though and skipped over the part that she was struggling with in order to help her a little, "He protected them", Frost stated softly, they paused for a moment knowing that he had tried his hardest to protect them. The ex-marine who had fought for his country had died protecting his world.

Maura excused herself, knowing that the eldest female's body resided upstairs as she had been informed by the detectives whilst they had been outside in the front yard. The two men remained downstairs for a while as they went over their notes on the case and analysed the evidence residing within the house that had once been known as a happy home.

The woman knelt down beside the body that lay sprawled in the hallway of the upstairs of the house, from the angle that the body lay she hypothesised that the woman had been attempting to shield the end bedroom from the attacker where she could hear doors opening and closing inside where Jane continued to look for the little girl that they both knew wasn't there.

Again she carried out her basic examination of the body in order to work out the estimated time of death and to catalogue the most obvious injuries that the woman had sustained during the brutal attack that the family had suffered at the hands of a serial killer on Christmas Eve. She noted the defensive wounds as well as the signs of possible sexual assault. She noted everything that she could about the body from the way that she was positioned to her clothing and her internal temperature.

The noises had stopped in the bedroom and Maura carefully stood up, slipping off yet another pair of gloves and sliding them into a small evidence bags she had done with each set of gloves that she had worn whilst examining each body in order to avoid cross contamination between the bodies.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner walked into the bedroom and stood in the doorway of the bedroom. She noted the name on the door 'Alessandra' and smiled softly although sadly as she thought to herself what a beautiful name it was, especially as it was one of the Italian girl's names that she had highlighted in a book of baby names that she had purchased after learning of Jane's pregnancy. She reached up and lightly traced her fingers over the lettering as she heard Jane speak, "Why'd he take her Maur'?", she asked quietly, "Why'd he break his M.O. and take a child?".

Maura looked up, taking in the sight of the dark haired Detective holding a china doll in her hands, "I... don't know", she said softly, not having an answer for the woman, she hated to guess and at that point in time she had no evidence to back up any hypothesis that her mind concocted.

She looked around the room at the books, microscope, awards and certificates, her mind drifted to her own bedroom that she had had as a child. "This is what I imagine your bedroom must have looked like as a child", Jane stated almost inaudibly to the woman who stood behind her. She still hadn't looked up at the woman ever since she had entered the room.

Maura nodded despite knowing that Jane couldn't see her, "It definitely holds some similarities", she stated as she continued to look around, "I never had any home made toys though".

Jane looked up at the woman whilst still holding onto the doll, "We've got to find her Maur'", she stated simply despite the statement being unnecessary.

The woman nodded, "We will", she said in confirmation because although she didn't know what the future held, she truly believed that they would find her. She simply had to hope that the girl would be safe and alive when they did.

The Italian Detective looked down at the doll in her hands before looking up at one of the photos of the little girl. The little girl was smiling at the camera and holding her medal out to show the camera. Her dark curly locks were slightly messy and her bright blue eyes were shining brightly as the sun shone down on her. Alessandra looked happy in the photo and the smile imprinted on her face was what the Detective and the Medical Examiner would hold in their minds.

Maura found herself looking at the photo of the young girl as well, her mind lost in the similarities between the little girl and the Detective stood beside her; the dark curly hair that was slightly messy, that lightly tanned complexion and the contagious smile. The woman also couldn't help but notice the similarities between the missing child and herself due to the academic interests of the little one. There were the medals, trophies and certificates but also the large quantity and variety of books along with the scientific instruments such as the microscope and the stethoscope that lay on the desk. She also took note of her love of her father as she noticed the small scattered marine themed items such as a hat that clearly had been part of the father's uniform at some point during his career and now had pride of place hanging on a post of the little girl's bed.

"Each child had a fluffy blanket on their bed along with a stuffed toy", Jane stated as she looked at the bed, "Most likely as part of their Christmas Eve boxes".

"As part of their what?", the Medical Examiner questioned.

"A box that kids get on Christmas Eve, they usually have pyjamas, stuffed toys, candy, hot chocolate, and things like that", Jane explained softly, knowing that her friend didn't have the same upbringing as she did, "Ma used to make them for Frankie, Tommy and I when we were kids".

Maura frowned slightly, "How can you tell that it could be part of that?".

"There were small boxes near the beds and they had the candy in them still", she said pointing to a box nearby that had been slightly hidden beneath the bed, "My gut says that the pyjamas they are wearing now were what they got in their Christmas Eve boxes and the mugs in the sink were from hot chocolate".

Maura said nothing, she hated the fact that the woman took her gut as a genuine and reliable source of information however she also recognised that more often than not the woman was actually correct. "Which means that the blanket and stuffed toy are with the little girl", she said softly, whilst hoping that the two items were giving the little girl enough comfort to get her through this traumatic period in her life. Jane was unaware as to whether the little girl knew what was happening or whether she even knew what had happened to her family.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner stepped forward and placed her hand on the upper arm of the Italian woman, "We'll find her", she stated simply before Jane turned to embrace the woman. They both knew that not only were they being affected by the case but so was the other. However they also knew that they had each other to help them through and to deal with the loss of Angioletto, a loss that neither had truly overcome yet.

 **Authors Note: Thank you for your review; 'sweetkid45', ' ', 'Guest' and 'luckypenguinbuddy'. Hopefully the scene from Maura's perspective was okay, I wanted to do a bit of Medical Examiner responsibilities without going into any real detail, mostly because of the involvement of children in the crime. Hopefully I got the balance right.**

 **Coming Soon: "Christmas Afternoon" - Interviewing the Neighbours.**


	5. Christmas Morning - Part IV

**A/N - Thank you to those who have reviewed so far. Please accept my apologies for the gaps in updating, I will try to update more regularly but between my university schedule, assignments, societies, meetings, training and all that other fun stuff… I simply haven't had the time to.**

 **MTM25 - Thanks, I was a little worried about the balance because for the story to work it needs to involve some details of the homicide but on the other hand I didn't want to make it too dark etc by putting in too much detail.**

 **luckypenguinbuddy - Thanks for your reviews ! It may end up a little more Jane-Centric but I will attempt to keep a balance between the two women's views/emotions.**

 **tashieka . conley - Admittedly, yes the character of Mr Thomas Jethro Harmon is inspired by Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I have used Mark Harmon's birth name 'Thomas Harmon', as I do tend to use a mix of names from various actors and actresses in order to create character names for non-canon characters. Having his image in my mind helped me to create the images of the children in my mind too, so that I could base characteristics and features on the parental imagery. The mother is based loosely on 'Angela Michelle Harmon' aka 'Angie Harmon', which is why the child is appearing so similar to Jane in terms of appearance. I have put a space in your name because I tried to thank you for your review in the last chapter but apparently the site deleted it on the basis that it has a dot in between and assumed it was a website address.**

 _Jane's Plan Chapter Five_

"I'm going to go and interview some of the neighbours and see what they know", Detective Jane Rizzoli said softly as she gradually and reluctantly extracted herself from Maura's arms, "We can get some background on the family as well, maybe that way we can find out why he broke his MO?".

Doctor Maura Isles nodded gently as she slowly let her arms fall to her sides from where they had been securely around the Italian woman's waist, "I will get back to the morgue so I can start on the autopsies straight away". She looked up at the dark haired woman, knowing that both of them wanted to solve this case as soon as possible so that they could rescue the little girl from the clutches of a serial killer who seemed to be in the process of changing his MO completely.

"Not today Maur' because you know what will happen", Jane said with a sigh, "You'll start on one and won't leave until they are complete which will mean you'll miss Christmas completely". Her mind flashed to the children downstairs who weren't going to have a Christmas this year and had only managed to have a Christmas Eve. "I'm going to talk with the neighbours and you're going to do the paperwork for transfer so we can meet at yours for dinner", Jane said firmly whilst not leaving room for argument in what she had said. Angela was cooking dinner at Maura's house as it was deemed the most suitable location for the event. Maura and Jane had decorated the house with various Christmas decorations to give it a festive feel.

Maura nodded, "I'll see you there", she said softly, using her left hand to briefly squeeze the other woman's right bicep in a comforting gesture before she turned to leave Alessandra's room.

She paused for a moment near the desk and put her hand out to trace her finger down the side of the microscope that was sat there, "I used to have one of these", the woman said softly.

Jane found herself smiling at the Chief Medical Examiner, "I am not surprised", she stated in amusement towards the woman who she deemed 'adorable'.

Maura nodded, "I don't mean a microscope in general but I mean one of these types", she said glancing up at Jane, "It is the _Celestron LCD Digital Microscope II,_ although I had the original so it wasn't as advanced as this one". She ran her hand along the top of the screen before running her hand down so that she could press in slightly. As she pulled her hand back from the microscope, she also pulled out an SD Memory Card.

The Italian woman frowned, "The microscope takes photos?", she questioned in slight surprise.

"Yes it does", Maura said simply, "It isn't the best on the market but it is a very good model to begin with. It even allows for it to be linked to a projector or larger screen so that you can see the specimen in much closer detail".

"I thought it was just a kid's one", she said as she stared at the woman in front of her.

Maura shook her head in a negative manner, "No Jane, it is one of the many models sold by the Tring Astronomy Centre in the UK. I had one as a student and donated it to a school when I purchased an improved model".

Jane stepped forward, "So the kid has an expensive English microscope…?".

The designer dressed woman shook her head, "No Jane", she said simply, "It is produced by the American company; Celestron. I was just saying that I know that the Tring Astronomy Centre sell them".

The curly haired woman nodded with a slightly raised eyebrow, "So an expensive American microscope?".

"Not really Jane, you see this would be approximately $300 whereas some cost as much as $3,000", she explained to the other woman, "As I said, this isn't the top model of microscope". There was a pause before Maura looked up at Jane, "Would it be okay for me to take the memory card back to the lab and take a look at the photographs that are saved on here?".

Jane shrugged, "Knock yourself out", she said softly.

Maura looked a little shocked, "Not literally remember", Jane quickly said which triggered a look of relief in the other woman's facial expressions.

Doctor Isles left the bedroom of the missing child and carefully walked towards the front door whilst avoiding anything that she shouldn't step on, the bodies had been removed from the living room by her assistants so that they could get the bodies escorted back to the morgue. Maura signed the forms needed for this as soon as she stepped outside onto the lawn. The last body which was that of Michelle Harmon, was now being removed from the home.

The medically trained woman looked away from the house and down the street, noting how calm it appeared and how life was continuing despite the tragedy that had happened on people's doorsteps. She found herself wondering which direction that the child had been taken in. She also wondered if the little one was awake and if she knew if it was Christmas. She wondered if the little girl was safe and warm or if she was out in the cold weather that she herself was standing in.

"We're ready Doctor Isles", one of the tech's said as he stood slightly behind her, "Will we meet you at the morgue?".

Maura turned to the man and nodded, "Thank you for letting me know", she said simply, "I will be back to complete the paperwork and to do a few things in the office but won't be starting on the autopsies until tomorrow so if you would like then you can all go back to your families as soon as the bodies are safely stored". She was in autopilot, avoiding reference to the fact that three out of five of the bodies were that of children as she was trying to shut out her personal emotions pertaining to the case so that she could not only stay unbiased but also remain in composure.

She couldn't help but think of little Angioletto, the tiny body of her best friend's child who hadn't even had the chance to fully grow in the safety of the woman's womb. The image of the 21 week infant was etched into her brain.

 _Jane was lying in the hospital bed, the small partially formed infant wrapped in a soft blanket in her arms. Maura had climbed onto the bed and was sat beside her with her arms gently around the Detective. Both women had tears in their eyes and running down their cheeks._

 _Maura reached out a hand and gently traced the cheek of the little child, it was clear to anyone that saw them that they both loved this little child but also that they loved each other._

" _We didn't even decide on a name for him", the Italian woman said softly as she watched her best friend's finger trace the little one's cheek._

 _It had been 'we' throughout the pregnancy from 'When will WE announce the pregnancy?', and 'Should WE find out the sex of the baby?' to 'What will WE name the baby?'. They had discovered only a couple of weeks previously that they were going to have a baby boy, despite them not being a couple, they were both very interested in parenting the child together. It hadn't been a conscious decision on either of their parts but it had been an automatic instinct as they tended to gravitate towards each other within every other aspect of their lives._

 _Maura looked at Jane before back towards the infant wrapped in a blanket, "What about Angioletto?", she offered softly, "It means…"._

" _... little angel in Italian", Jane said gently, finishing her sentence for her before nodding, "I like it Maur'". She smiled sadly towards the woman before looking at the infant in her arms, "Angioletto Isles Rizzoli", she said softly, giving him Maura's surname as his middle name._

 _The Medical Examiner leant her head onto Jane's shoulder and sighed gently, before brushing away her tears, "Angioletto Isles Rizzoli", she repeated with a sad smile, she found herself unable to voice her feelings as to how much it meant to her that the infant had her name as his middle name and instead she leant up and pressed a kiss to Jane's cheek, lingering longer than necessary on the soft skin._

Jane looked over at Maura and smiled softly towards the woman, it was a way of reassuring the woman who she knew needed it. The two women knew each other better than they knew anyone. They knew when the other needed space, when the other needed comforting and when they simply needed someone to talk to.

"So what have we got so far?", the Italian Detective asked as she turned to look at both Korsak and Frost.

Frost frowned slightly looking at his partner, his eyes drifted downwards to her arms, "Why do you have a doll?", he asked curiously as he looked at the woman with a doll cradled in her left arm.

"It's from Alessandra's room, I thought she might like it when we find her", she said simply as she looked down at the china doll before back to the man who was stood in front of her.

The two men nodded in agreement, "Good idea", Korsak commented to her in response, "It might help calm her if we have something she recognises".

"Mr Anthony Weatherly, 55 years old lives with his wife; Marie Weatherly, 51 at number 67", he said, reeling off the information of the witness who lived next door to the family, "said that he said he saw a truck parked outside late last night but didn't think anything of it". It was Christmas Eve so many people were visiting family at this time of the year, so seeing a strange vehicle outside of a home where it usually wasn't, wasn't something that people tended to take too much notice of. "Then he saw the little girl…", he began.

"Alessandra", Jane cut him off in order to state her actual name, usually she was fine and could refer to the victim as a victim, or female, male, or little girl etc but for some reason she simply couldn't allow it this time. Something had changed. Something was different about this case.

Korsak nodded and continued as if he had not been interrupted at all, "... being taken out to the car, wrapped in a blanket with toy in her hand".

Frost kept an eye on Jane as Korsak spoke, noticing the difference in the woman and how she was subconsciously rocking ever so slightly.

"Mr Weatherly managed to identify Hoyt as the abductor despite his wife originally saying it was Mr Harmon that had put the child in the car", Korsak stated as he discreetly observed the woman in front of him, "Apparently he got a better look at Hoyt than he had originally thought".

"Did anyone else see anything?", Jane asked the two men in front of her as she glanced around the street that was now much quieter now that the majority of law enforcement had left along with Maura and her team.

Korsak and Frost both shook their heads, before Barry spoke, "Nothing", he stated, "We found out that 13 year old Christian, 11 year old Tyler and 8 year old Kelly were all very outgoing children who loved to play out in the street with their friends. Kelly's best friend was 9 year old Avery who lives next door to them, on the opposite side to Mr and Mrs Weatherly". He paused and took a breath as he looked up at the woman who was listening intently to what he was saying, "4 year old Alessandra however was always much more withdrawn and didn't like to play outside with them so the neighbours didn't see her as often but from the sounds of it she was a very smart child".

"Is", Jane interrupted, "Is not was". The expression on her face showed that there was no room for discussion on this, the term was to be present tense and not past tense on the basis that this little girl was still alive.

Frost nodded, "Sorry", he said quickly, glancing towards Korsak who nodded signalling for him to continue speaking. "The father was an ex-marine who enjoyed woodwork in his spare time, he built children's toys for the local children's home and sometimes sold his work for extra money for the family", he continued.

"The mother was on the parent's committee at the children's schools and doted on the children", the man said softly, glancing from his notepad to the female Detective in front of him, "She attended all sports games, competitions and recitals possible as well as baking cakes for events".

Jane listened carefully to everything the man was telling her, as he continued to speak of the parents, "Mr Harmon retired 4 years ago when Alessandra was born so that he could help take care of the children", he said flipping the page of his notepad, "Mrs Harmon had complications with her pregnancy and Alessandra was born prematurely suffering from various complications including jaundice".

The curly haired Detective found herself having to take a deep breath when she heard that piece of information, as the words 'prematurely' and 'complications' hit her with the force of a freight truck and images of her own child came to mind.

"Mrs Harmon returned to work two years ago, with her husband remaining at home to care for the children. She was working as a lecturer at BCU, teaching forensic science", Frost said, completing what he had written down on the lined notepad.

Jane nodded, "Are there any more interviews to be done?", she asked as she looked around, noticing that none of the neighbours were outside any longer as they had gone into their homes long ago. It made her wonder if they were thinking of the family and of the missing child or if they had simply forgotten them to carry on with their day as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.

Korsak shook his head, "No, we're done here", he stated, before looking the woman up and down briefly, "We'll find her Janie".

Jane nodded with the doll remaining in the crook of her arm, "I know", she said looking down at it before looking away from the two men, "I know". Her voice was a soft whisper when she repeated it, as if she were trying to reassure herself that they would.


	6. Christmas Afternoon

**A/N - Admittedly I have taken creative liberty with Maura's home… and TJ's age too.**

 **Thanks to 'sweetkid45', 'tashieka . conley' and 'luckypenguinbuddy' for your reviews!**

The front of Maura's Beacon Hill home was lit up with a scattering of white light up snowflakes that flashed slowly in a manner that made it appear as if they were a stream of falling snowflakes.

On the front door, hung a _Luxury Handmade Merry Berry & Pinecone Christmas Wreath_ and in front of the door was a Christmas themed doormat that Jane had purchased for her a few week previously. The doormat was red with white writing which simply said ' _Baby, It's Cold Outside'_ with a white snowflake in the top right hand corner. The wording on the mat was the title of Maura's favourite Christmas song by Idina Menzel. Jane had found Maura in her office singing along to the song and had managed to find it online whilst shopping for Christmas presents, however she hadn't waited until Christmas to give it to her as she wanted to give it to her early so that it could be included in her decorations. The Coir doormat had been found accidentally when she was searching for gifts with the theme of the song and had come across the Kensington Row Collection. Jane decided that a simple plain doormat wouldn't be sufficient for Christmas celebrations.

Maura had never decorated so much for Christmas and in fact rarely decorated at all because usually she would work through Christmas on a voluntary basis so that others could spend time with their families. The decorations on the outside and the inside of her home were a direct result of Jane's encouragement as the Italian Detective was extremely insistent upon the concept that Maura would not work through the Christmas holiday and that she would spend the holiday with the Rizzoli's. Detective Rizzoli also insisted upon the concept that the honey blonde Chief Medical Examiner decorated her home to give it a festive atmosphere.

These decor changes inspired Doctor Isles to offer up her home for the festivities so that the whole family could have dinner in her home. She loved to spend time with the family because she always felt a part of the family dynamic. They always made an effort to include her and to make her feel like family. Maura found that she enjoyed being in her home much more when everyone was there despite the fact that usually she liked to spend time alone and avoid being around too many people when possible. To her it felt as if she finally had a family, her adoptive parents despite loving her, were in fact quite distant with her and her biological family were simply not in attendance when it came to her life but that was for various reasons. Having the Rizzoli family there made her house feel like a home but she found that the one person who had the biggest effect upon that feeling was that of Jane Rizzoli. Her best friend and co-worker. If Jane wasn't there with her then she found the house far too quiet and much colder. Maura loved to spend her evenings after work, curled on the sofa with Jane and watching movies or television shows.

From the outside you could see various lights on including the Christmas Tree lights that shone in the bay window, the lights were white on the tree whilst the decorations carried the theme of the wreath which were red and green.

A couple of the trees outside were littered with white fairy lights which added to the magical feeling the home carried throughout the festive season.

Garlands that matched the wreath hanging on the door, were draped up the stair hand railing, along the fireplace and around the tops of the doorways. In the doorways however, mistletoe was central of the garland and hanging down from it, attached to the garland by green ribbon to give it the appearance that it was growing down from it.

Candles littered the mantlepiece, although carefully placed so that the various shapes and sizes complimented each other. The candles were each tied with red ribbon to give them each a bow around the middle. The large mirror behind them made the flickering lights cascade shapes around the room in a much more emphasised manner than what they would have done without the assistance.

The usual pillows on the sofa had been replaced by Christmas themed pillows which were printed with winter photos of them all and had red material on the back of them.

There was a photo of Maura and Jane with their faces pressed against each other, their noses slightly pink from the cold and wearing hats that had been handmade by Angela. Another of the pillows featured a photo of the two of them standing side by side on the ice skating rink in Boston Common, they were both wearing huge smiles along with their winter clothing and it was clear that their arms were securely around each other's waists. There were also photos including the other members of the family such as a photo of Jane and Frankie having a snowball fight, Frost sprawled in the snow after falling from his sledge, Korsak smiling at the camera with Angela beside him whilst they were both watching the others on the skating rink after he had wrapped his arm around her to keep her warm, and one of Angela holding her one year old grandson; TJ in her arms.

The rug in the living room had been swapped out for a luxuriously thick red one which contrasted with the white carpets she had throughout her home.

The Christmas Tree that stood in the bay window was covered with various decorations which included the usual such as red baubles and white fairy lights. She also had various hand blown glass ornaments in various shapes along with _Swarovski Crystal_ baubles. Along with these she had some personalised ornaments on the tree with photos printed on them, they were a set of various shapes made from white china with the photos on the front and she had made sure to have a photo of each of the people she treasured the most.

The latest addition to her tree was the glass snowflake that hung near the top of the tree. The glass snowflake had been etched with a memorial message for Angioletto. Angela had ordered one for Jane for her tree but as she was making the order online, she had looked towards her mantlepiece at the photos that sat there. First she looked at the one of Angioletto on his own, the little boy was laying peacefully wrapped in blankets and appeared as if he were simply sleeping. Then she looked at the second photo that she had of him and smiled softly as she looked at how both Jane and Maura were kissing Angioletto's head. It was in that moment that she decided that Maura also needed one of the ornaments, as she couldn't leave out her grandson's 'other mother', even if the two women hadn't made it official.

Beneath the tree was a red tree skirt that flowed around the base of the real fir tree and covered the pot that it was in. The material was covered however by an avalanche of gifts which was spread out on the floor and piled up around the sides of the tree, making it difficult to shut the curtains in the bay window. Gifts were under there for everyone as people had bought the gifts to Maura's home the previous night so that nobody would have to struggle with them the following day during the rush of Christmas day. The wrapping paper varied from various solid colours to cartoon style Christmas patterns to glitter laced patterns that spread glitter on everything and everyone it came into contact with.

The table was decorated neatly and precisely with a white tablecloth with a red tablecloth runner going down the middle and featured a centrepiece that matched the style of the wreath and garlands with a large candle in the centre of it. The plates and cutlery along with wine glasses were neatly arranged upon the table upon red placemats and coasters.

Each person had a small gift box next to their glasses with their name on a tag that was tied to the small gift. The gift box contained a few festive themed chocolates inside and the boxes were gold, covered in glitter and tied with a see through gold ribbon whilst the tag was white with golden calligraphy writing.

TJ had a slightly different one on his highchair as his was a small gift box in the shape of a snowman instead. He also had a cartoon children's Christmas placemat on his highchair with his name written on it.

The chairs had white covers on them with red sashes around them so that on the back of each chair was a large red ribbon. Even TJ's high chair was decorated in the same manner.

Christmas had managed to sneak into every aspect of Maura's home from the front of the house, to her living room, to her kitchen, her bedrooms and even her bathrooms.

In her en-suite she had a Christmas themed gold glitter bath elixir in a glass bottle which had a ribbon tied around the neck of the bottle, instead of her usual bath bubbles.

Her bathmats had been swapped out for more festive colours along with her towels, and even flannels in both bathrooms. The normal hand soap she had was also changed for a Christmas alternative which had a Cinnamon scent rather than the almond one she had previously had on the side of her sink.

The mirror in her en-suite had been graffitied by Detective Rizzoli on Christmas Eve in a bright red shade of lipstick which said in uncharacteristically curly writing ' _Merry Christmas Maur' Love Jane X',_ and Maura had left the message there. Doctor Isles found herself smiling brightly as soon as she saw the message on her bathroom mirror and her heart seemed to swell, metaphorically speaking of course. The Chief Medical Examiner had taken a photo of the message on her cell phone so that she would still have the image even if it were to be removed which was something that she was not intending on doing any time soon. The photo had quickly become her lock screen wallpaper on her cell phone whilst a photo of Jane, Maura and Angioletto remained as her home screen wallpaper.

The soft sound of Christmas music was flowing throughout the house, and the family were seated around the table after Angela had spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking for them all.

 _Listen to that fireplace roar_

 _So really I'd better scurry_

 _Beautiful, please don't hurry_

 _But maybe just a soda-pop more_

 _I'll put some records on while I pour_

Angela was at the end of the table, with her son; Tommy to her left and Korsak to her right. Frost was beside Korsak whilst Frankie was beside Tommy. TJ's highchair had been placed between Angela and Tommy as she loved to be close to her grandson. Maura was at the head of the table with Jane to her left. Maura's hand had slipped beneath the table to rest on Jane's leg gently in a comforting manner for the woman who seemed to be pushing her food around on her plate.

 _Gosh, your lips look delicious_

 _My brother will be there at the door_

 _Waves upon a tropical shore_

 _My maiden aunt's mind is vicious_

 _Gosh, your lips are delicious_

The rest of the people at the table were eating their dinner, Maura was pausing on occasion to gently squeeze the Detective's thigh. "Eat something", she whispered softly when she leant over towards the other woman, "You need your strength so you can catch him and get that little girl back safely".

Jane sighed before looking at her and nodding, "I'm just not hungry Maur', knowing she's out there and not knowing where or how she is?", she glanced around the table, they knew what was wrong with her and they opted for what they decided would be best by not pressuring her or interrupting them, "I hate these cases". She said referring to cases involving children in general but even more so involving abducted children. She felt helpless because there wasn't much she could do at the current time and she hated that feeling. She felt guilty because she was sat eating Christmas dinner with her family in the warm decorated home of the woman she loved when the little girl was goodness knows where.

Jane also felt lost because she wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that her son wasn't there. She admitted to Maura that the case was bothering her but not how much not having her son there was bothering her. Having TJ there was harder than she thought it would be, she found herself running her hand over her stomach gently as she thought of Angioletto, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by Maura.

"I know", Maura said with a small nod, "But eat something… for me?". Her question was quiet and soft as she tilted her head ever so slightly in a manner that Jane found adorable. Maura was worried about Jane and it showed in her facial expressions. She was worried about the little girl but she found herself being even more worried about the effects of the case on the woman she was so deeply in love with.

 _You've really been grand_

 _I feel when I touch your hand_

 _But don't you see_

 _How can you do this thing to me?_

 _There's bound to be talk tomorrow_

Jane began to silently eat the dinner that her mother had cooked for her with Maura's hand remaining on her thigh. Her mind however was still on the little girl whose doll was sat on the sofa where Jane had placed it before going to the table. The food had been served just as she was walking in the door and so she had gone straight to the table as she was instructed to do so whilst placing the doll down on the way in.


	7. Christmas Evening

**A/N:**

 **Thank you to 'sweetkid45', 'tasheika . conley' and 'luckypenguinbuddy' again for the reviews!**

Angela Rizzoli looked around the table at her family (including friends who had become part of her family over the years) and she smiled softly with happiness and joy at the fact that they were all around the table together. Those around the table were consistently in her prayers for safety as she knew the dangers of the job for the majority of those around her and she knew that each and every one of them risked their lives on a regular basis to save the lives of others. Her eyes briefly paused on her only daughter, she knew that the current case was bothering Jane but chose not to push the matter. She had been told a very brief summary of the case by Frankie so that the elder Rizzoli would know to leave Jane be.

 _Frankie was one of the first to arrive at Maura's home in Beacon Hill and let himself in without a second thought, "Hey Ma!", he shouted through to the kitchen where he could hear noise coming from._

 _Angela had a huge grin on her face as she came to greet him, as soon as he took his jacket off, she had her arms wrapped around his torso tightly, "Merry Christmas Frankie"._

" _Merry Christmas Ma", he responded as he returned the familiar embrace._

 _The matriarch smiled, "You're the first one here", she said softly, "I hope they don't have to work all day, Maura was gone before I even got here this morning". She sighed heavily as she walked back towards the kitchen, "They work too hard…"._

 _Frankie followed her and spoke before she could continue, "They caught a case Ma, a little girl is missing", he stated quietly, his voice much softer than usual._

 _Angela turned to him and her hand went to her mouth, "Oh my", she said softly in a slight gasp, "Who would do so a thing?". The woman shook her head, "They'll find her and return her to her family by dinner, I'm sure of it", she said softly, with a little hope in her voice as she looked at Frankie. She not only wanted confirmation that her family would be around her at Christmas but also that the little girl would be with hers._

 _The man looked down and sighed, "Not so simple Ma", he said with sadness laced within his tone of voice._

" _Why not?", the woman asked, "Your sister can do it, she can do anything she puts her mind to… I learnt that the hard way when she was little because you tell that girl she can't do something and she'll do it just to prove you wrong"._

" _No ma…", he said interrupting her, "The little girl's family was killed last night and we think it was the killer who took her"._

 _Angela didn't know the little girl but she was a mother, a very caring and loving one who took it upon herself to care for every child, "Oh my", she said softly, her hand travelling up to cover her mouth once more._

 _Frankie took hold of his mother's hand and led her to the sofa for them both to sit down, "That's why I came early Ma, I thought you should know before Jane gets here because we both know that she hasn't dealt with Angioletto's death yet and we just need to be a bit…", he couldn't think of the word he wanted._

" _... careful?", his mother offered to finish his sentence in an understanding manner._

 _Frankie Rizzoli nodded, "Yeah, we need to be a bit careful with her"._

 _Angela looked at her youngest son and smiled, "She is lucky to have such a caring brother, you know that, right?"._

 _The young man grinned, "You should tell her that", he said cheekily with a slight wink, "Now how about I help you with dinner?"._

The elder Rizzoli smiled softly upon seeing the discrete movement of Maura's arm which she knew to be a comforting gesture towards her daughter who was reluctantly finishing off her dinner. Angela knew from her child's body language that she didn't want to eat but that whatever the Chief Medical Examiner had said to her beforehand had made her eat her food. She found herself feeling very grateful to have the honey blonde woman in her life and as part of her family.

She looked around the table, she looked at Frankie who was deep in conversation with Frost although she wasn't entirely sure what about, she was proud of her son. Then she looked at her other son, who despite his past was now beginning to turn his life around.

Tommy was sat feeding TJ, he had a blue and green plastic spoon and was trying to convince his food covered child to eat the food instead of wearing it. He of course seemed to be failing at this task but the little one was rather happy with the entertainment as he continued to giggle and occasionally some of the food did go into his mouth.

Jane was struggling emotionally as she sat at the table, her left hand lifted up and drifted over her stomach. She felt empty. She felt as if something was missing. Her hand was covered within seconds by another. The warmth spread through her as Jane looked up into hazel eyes, she smiled softly.

Maura stood up gracefully, "We'll be back in a moment", she said softly, tugging the reluctant Detective with her.

Angela smiled approvingly and nodded, "We'll clean up, take your time and when your back we'll open up some presents", she said softly towards the Doctor.

The Irish woman led Jane from the room and up to her own bedroom, she closed the door instantly and moved to sit on the bed, tugging Jane down with her. "It's going to be okay", the woman said softly with a smile, "I know it doesn't seem that way right now but it will be".

Jane nodded gently, her left hand back on her material covered stomach, "I didn't realise it would be this hard Maur'", she said with a voice that revealed how hard she was trying to hold back the tears.

Maura wrapped her arms around the other woman in a way that meant that her hand was resting on top of Jane's, "Nor did I", she said softly. "I never thought I'd be a mother but when you asked me that day to help you raise your child with you…".

 _Maura was standing in the living room, looking at Jane, "Jane?", she asked softly, "Jane? What's wrong?"._

 _The dark haired Italian woman looked as if she was in shock, she was standing there silently, the quietest that she had ever seen her other than when she was asleep of course, "I...I...I'm pregnant"._

 _The Chief Medical Examiner didn't hesitate and stepped forward instinctively to wrap the other woman in a tight and loving embrace, before lacing her hand into her hair to hold her as close as possible._

 _Jane was crying softly into the woman's light curls and clinging to her with one hand as the other hand still held a pregnancy test stick._

" _It's going to be okay", Maura reassured her gently, "We'll get through this, I'm here for you both", she said softly._

"Our", Jane interrupted her to correct.

The interruption made Maura smile, "Ours", she said softly before sliding her hand beneath Jane's hand and beneath the woman's top to rest on the soft skin of her stomach, "I was so excited to be raising a child with you, I couldn't think of anyone better to do it with and I felt like the luckiest woman in the world".

 _It had been a week since Jane had first told Maura about the pregnancy and Maura had done everything to ensure that she was there for her and the baby, she had gone out and purchased pregnancy vitamins along with other necessary items for the pregnancy._

 _Casey had made it clear that he had no interest in the pregnancy at all and that Jane was on her own in this. Jane however knew that she wasn't on her own in the pregnancy and never would be because she had Doctor Maura Isles by her side._

 _They were both sat on the sofa together in the living room of the Chief Medical Examiner, "Maur'?", Jane said softly, "Would… would you help me… you know with the baby?"._

 _Maura looked at her slightly confused, "Of course", she said softly, "I thought I'd made that clear from the moment you told me you were pregnant". She reached out and put a hand on Jane's stomach, "I'm sorry I wasn't more clear", she said gently, "I will always be here for the both of you no matter what and I'll help you with whatever you need"._

" _No I mean… would you help me raise the baby?", Jane asked as she covered the other woman's hand with her own, "Like be it's other mom?"._

 _Maura's hazel eyes began to fill with salty but happy tears, "Of course Jane", she said happily as she threw herself (although carefully) into the other woman's arms, "Of course I will"._

 _Jane smiled, that was definitely a yes._

Jane hadn't heard Maura speak so openly before and so she did nothing but listen to her, she listened carefully and gently squeezed Maura's hand.

Despite being articulate, Maura found herself unable to express what she was feeling, "I know… I know it isn't the same but I understand", she said softly, "I know it hurts, it hurt then and it still does…". Maura brushed away her own tears with her spare hand, "I know it isn't the same but I… I miss him too and I didn't realise this case would be so hard".

The Detective's hand came up and cupped the woman's cheek, "It is the same Maur', he was your son too", she said softly, "I won't let anyone say otherwise". Jane smiled lovingly, "Your pain isn't any less important than mine so don't ever think it is". The woman pulled her in closer, "You were… are his mother too Maur'".

Maura nodded briefly and embraced Jane, burying her face into the woman's curls, "I just wanted to tell you I understand", she said softly, "I understand that the case is hard and that these feelings are making it even harder".

Jane nodded, "I know Maur', I know", she said rocking them gently, "And just to let you know, that when you agreed to raise Angioletto with me… I felt like the luckiest woman in the world too". She reached down and cupped Maura's cheek to make her look up in her direction, "I love you Maur' and to raise a child with you one day would be amazing, I'm sorry it… it didn't work out this time". Her voice was soft and gentle as she spoke to the other woman, whilst holding her tightly against her.

A huge smile broke out over Maura's face and she looked up into the Italian woman's eyes, "I love you too Jane", she said before pressing her lips to hers in a soft and gentle kiss. "Next time you're going on desk duty", she said with a slight smirk on her face.

Jane grinned, she liked the sound of 'next time', but shook her head, "Next time? You're carrying", she said before kissing her with much more passion than she had done with the previous kiss.

Maura found herself within nanoseconds, laying on her back on her bed with Jane poised above her with their lips joined in a searing kiss. One of Jane's hands had found their way to Maura's flat stomach, "I like the sound of a 'next time' with you", the medically trained woman said with a smile.

"So do I", Jane said quietly before pressing another kiss to the woman's lipstick painted lips, "We should go back downstairs before Ma comes looking for the both of us".

"One more minute", Maura said softly to the woman laying on top of her, "Just one more minute laying here with the woman I love". Her words resulted in a huge smile spreading over Jane's facial features.

Jane rolled over so that Maura now lay on top of her instead, she wrapped her arms around the smaller woman and held her close.

Meanwhile downstairs, the dining table had been cleared of food and TJ had been cleaned up by Angela. Frankie had done the washing up, Frost had dried the dishes, Tommy had put them all away and Korsak had tidied away the condiments and things from the table that they didn't need. The four men had insisted that Angela not clear away the food and that she instead go and play with TJ.

The woman looked over at the sofa where the doll remained, she sighed heavily knowing that this case was affecting her daughter so much and that there wasn't much she could do about it. She wanted to stop the pain that her daughter and that Maura were both feeling. She knew that the death of Angioletto had affected the Chief Medical Examiner and knew that the woman had been intending to help raise the infant with Jane but she didn't realise to what extent this case was truly affecting the two of them. She hadn't seen a photo of the little girl so didn't know her appearance held similarities to the dark haired Detective upstairs and she hadn't seen the little girl's bedroom so she didn't know how similar the little child was to that of the Medical Examiner. She didn't know. She picked up the doll and put it out of the way so that TJ wouldn't damage it.

It was another ten minutes before Jane and Maura made their appearance downstairs in the living room with the others. Angela was on the floor playing with TJ who had a few toy cars in front of him whilst the four men were sat on the sofa and armchairs, engaged in a conversation about cars and racing.

The first thing that Jane noticed was where Frankie was sitting, "Where's Alessandra's doll Frankie? Please tell me you aren't sitting on her", she said stepping closer, it was clear from her facial expressions and body language that she was far from happy about what she was seeing. The doll had been moved and to her that was not okay.

Frankie's eyes went wide, "No I…".

"I moved the doll so that TJ wouldn't break...", Angela said softly towards her daughter, concerned as to how much moving a doll had affected the woman.

Jane didn't listen fully to what her mother was saying and interrupted her quickly, "What gave you that right Ma? Where is she?".

Angela noticed the repeated use of the term 'she' instead of 'it' and pointed to the other side of the room where the doll was laying on the unit, "I moved it...I moved her", she said correcting herself to calm her daughter, "I moved her so that TJ wouldn't hurt her".

Jane wasn't listening however and had moved to the unit straight away, picking up the doll to inspect it for any sign of damage.

Maura put her hand up to silence Angela when it appeared as if the elder woman was about to speak again, "How about we put her in my spare room so that when we find Alessandra then you can give her doll back to her?".

The Detective smiled slightly and nodded, liking that idea she went with Maura to the spare bedroom.

Angela appeared a little upset by the interaction, "I think the case may be too much for her Vince, could you not pull her from it? Make her work something else?", she asked the silver haired man sat on the sofa.

Korsak looked around a little awkwardly, "Even if I did, you and I both know that she would still find a way to work the case", he said gently, "She won't stop until we find Alessandra".

In the other room, Jane had placed the doll gently on the bed, tucked slightly beneath the covers as though it were a child sleeping. "We'll find her Jane", Maura said with a smile before taking her hand, "Your mother didn't mean anything by it, she just didn't want TJ to break Alessandra's doll".

Jane nodded, "I know it's just… I… I overreacted".

The first words out of her mouth when she entered the living room were; "I'm sorry Ma".

Angela stood and embraced her child tightly, "You'll find her soon Janie", she said softly, "Now how about we open some presents?".

Jane nodded to what her mother said and she looked down to TJ on the floor before looking at the filled seats then at Maura. Frankie got up from his seat first, "Here Janie", he said offering his sister his seat, "I'm going to sit down with TJ and help him give out the presents".

The woman understood the gesture and nodded with a soft smile, "Thank you Frankie", she said as she took her seat and pulled Maura with her, forcing the woman to sit in her lap although it took very little actual forcing because the woman was more than happy to comply.

Gradually the pile of presents went down as TJ opened a huge number of gifts that included a ride in car from Maura, some new clothes from Angela, a football from Frost and a number of other gifts. Frost had opened his which included a signed, mint in package robot action figure from Maura. Frankie had also received one but his was a different colour to the one that Frost had opened. Tommy had been given things for his new flat as he hadn't long moved in and didn't have much for it yet.

The presents had all been handed out, Maura had a small pile to open but hadn't yet opened them as she had gone to the bathroom quickly. Jane had opened a couple of them and that had included a necklace from her mother and a new baseball jersey from her older brother.

"There's a gift left under the tree Frankie", Jane pointed out to her brother who had been the one sending TJ under the tree to reach the gifts but had left one under there.

Frankie leant under and grabbed hold of it, tugging out a box wrapped in white paper decorated with silver iridescent glitter snowflakes. "It's for you", he said handing over the box with a smile, "Nearly missed it".

The female Italian Detective opened it quickly, the wrapping paper flying off and she lifted the lid of the box as Maura reentered the room. "No! Don't…", Maura screeched but it was too late. The box was already open.

Jane put her hand into the box and pulled out a stuffed bear, her eyes filled instantly with tears. It was a pale blue, soft and fluffy teddy bear with white paws and dark blue embroidered writing on it's left paw which simply said 'Baby Rizzoli-Isles' and on the right paw was the year. It wasn't the year that he was supposed to be born but instead the year that he had been conceived which was now the year he had been born and the year that he had passed away. The box dropped from her lap in an instant and she pulled the bear close to her.

"I removed the other presents from the tree but I must have forgotten about that one", Maura said softly, "I'm sorry Jane...I.."

"It's okay Maur', I like it", Jane said softly with tear filled eyes and tear stained cheeks with her hand out to the other woman.

Maura moved and sat back in the woman's lap, the bear was then placed in Maura's lap. The Doctor curled towards the woman and held on tightly, whispering into Jane's ear softly. The others watched on with expressions of sadness and loss.


	8. St Stephen's Day - Part I

**A/N: Thank you 'sweetkid45', 'dd113' for the reviews and apologies for causing you pain 'luckypenguinbuddy' but they will eventually heal together, it will just take them some time.**

 **Hopefully everyone liked the kiss being thrown in the last chapter as it was a little earlier than originally planned ;) It kind of got away from me.**

It was the day after Christmas otherwise known as 'St Stephen's Day'. Jane rolled over and reached out her arm expecting to find Maura lying beside her but instead found nothing but cold sheets indicating that the woman in question had gotten out of bed a while ago. She groaned in annoyance at the realisation as she had wanted to lay in bed with the woman for a while before they had to get up for work. She knew that Maura had to start the autopsies today and she knew that she had a little girl to look for. It was going to be a long day. That wasn't a new concept however to the woman who had been in law enforcement now for years.

She sat up and ran a hand through her messy dark curls before a smile burst out over her face at the memory of curling up around Maura, her arms wrapping tightly around the other woman and holding her close. She always slept better when she was at Maura's home and even better when she had the other woman lying in bed beside her. They tended to gravitate towards each other when they slept in the same bed and would end up curled together, tangled limbs or one of their heads on the other's chest but to be able to wrap her arms around Maura before they even fell asleep and to be able to hold her all night long made her heart swell. She felt truly lucky to have the woman in her life.

Swinging her legs from the bed, her bare feet hit the soft carpeted floor and she padded towards the ensuite bathroom so that she could use the restroom and brush her teeth. Her mind wandered to the little girl who had gone missing and she began to wonder what would happen to her when she found her. They had already discovered that there wasn't any known relatives as that was one of the first things they had looked for in order for them to notify next of kin.

When she was done in the bathroom, she made her way downstairs wearing a pair of ' _Women's Boston Red Sox Concepts Sport Red Tradition Sleep Shorts'_ along with a plain white tank top. She had quickly run her hand through her hair to neaten it a little but hadn't attempted to put an actual brush through her mane yet.

Jane Rizzoli paused in the doorway to the kitchen for a moment, her eyes watching Maura in the kitchen. The woman had clearly had a shower and gotten dressed but due to the lack of noise from the hair dryer, Jane guessed that the woman had gotten ready in the guest bathroom instead.

Maura Isles was sat with a perfect posture at the breakfast bar, eating her breakfast which consisted of a fruit salad and a cup of high quality coffee whilst she read the ' _New England Journal of Medicine'._ The Chief Medical Examiner was wearing her ' _Chefchaouen-Print Belted Pleated Dress by Akris',_ Jane recognised it from the day they had gone shopping a week previously. It was a trip that she had been very reluctant to go on however had ended up seeing Maura in a multitude of outfits with a huge smile on her face each time and they had managed to go to the sporting goods store as well as to Jane's favourite Italian restaurant for lunch. Jane decided that however torturous shopping trips were, the smile on Maura's face made it worth it.

"Are you going to join me or stand there and stare?", Maura said softly towards the Detective with a slight smirk on her face whilst keeping her eyes on the journal in front of her.

Jane blushed slightly at being caught, before walking towards the woman and wrapping her arms around her from behind, "Good morning", the woman said softly as her lips grazed the honey blonde woman's ear making her shiver ever so slightly.

"Good morning to you too Jane", Maura said with a smile as she dropped her hand to cover Jane's that was resting on her stomach, "Would you like some breakfast? I could make you a fruit salad or I even have lucky charms?". She looked to her side to take a look at the woman's face and couldn't resist pressing a chaste kiss to Jane's lips.

Jane shook her head, "No thanks, I'm going to go shower, get dressed then grab some coffee on the way to work", she said with a smile and her arms still wrapped securely around the other woman, "Do you want to go in together?".

Maura nodded, "Yes we could go in together", she replied, "How about you go and get ready for work and I'll make you some coffee and breakfast to go? That way you can eat it on the way to work whilst I drive".

The Detective nodded, "Sounds like a plan, Maur'", she said before pressing a kiss to the woman's soft cheek but she then decided that a kiss to the cheek wasn't enough. She put her hands on Maura's hips to spin the breakfast bar stool round so that the woman was facing her and planted a searing and passionate kiss to the woman's lipstick painted lips. Both women eventually and reluctantly pulled apart, both with uneven breath as they gasped for oxygen that the kiss had denied them, and both with smiles spread on their faces.

"Why did we wait so long to do this Maur'?", Jane asked as she cupped the woman's cheek gently, looking into her eyes lovingly.

Maura smiled softly, "I don't know", the woman answered simply, "But I do know that I never ever want to stop".

Jane's face broke into a huge grin, her eyes were shining and she leant in for another breath taking kiss, "Nor do I", she said when they broke apart.

"You better go up and get ready or we're going to be late", Maura said responsibly, knowing that she had not one or two autopsies to do but five. She hated having to do the autopsies of children and was dreading it.

Jane nodded in agreement and reluctantly let go of the other woman in order to move back upstairs towards the master bedroom.

Whilst Jane was upstairs, Maura finished off her breakfast and began to prepare a fruit salad, placing it inside a lime green food container with a small fork that clipped into the lid so that she could use that to eat with. She then grabbed a flask and filled it with coffee, making the hot beverage just the way Jane liked it. Once she was finished preparing the Detective's breakfast, she made a packed lunch for each of them. Hers was a salad with her favourite items in it and Jane's was a peanut butter and fluff sandwich with a small side salad. She also threw a couple of bottles of water into the bag so that they would have something to drink at lunch time. The Medical Examiner knew that they wouldn't have much time for a lunch break today and that Jane wouldn't be willing to go out to lunch with a child missing.

When lunch was packed away and Jane's breakfast sat on the side, Maura placed her items from breakfast into the dishwasher just as the woman came back downstairs wearing a black suit with a lemon yellow top. The honey blonde woman smiled softly, she did love that colour on the other woman as she rather liked the contrast between the bright yellow and the woman's dark curls and suit.

"I've packed some lunch for later because I know it is unlikely that we'll get a break long enough for either one of us to go out and get any food", Maura said towards her newfound lover, "I've also put some water in there for us and your breakfast is beside the bag so that you can eat it in the car along with the coffee".

Jane smiled brightly at Maura, the smile only reserved for that sole woman, "Thanks Maur'", she said, genuinely thankful for the woman. If it wasn't for Maura she probably would have grabbed a coffee and something unhealthy such as a pastry on the way to the precinct, if she stopped at all.

Maura picked up her bag and their lunch bag whilst Jane picked up her breakfast and coffee before they made their way towards the door. "Ah I almost forgot", Jane exclaimed before rushing off towards the guestroom, making Maura frown slightly in confusion as she stood in the doorway to her home.

Her confusion was short lived however when Jane returned carrying Alessandra's doll in her arm, cradling it as if it were an infant whilst still holding onto her breakfast and coffee. Maura smiled sadly at the sight of the doll, "We'll find her", she said softly towards Jane.

Jane smiled and with a confident front replied, "I know Maur'", it went without saying that this was Jane's way of saying, _Or I'll die trying._

Maura bit her lip slightly and nodded before she exited the home to go towards Jane's unmarked car, knowing that Jane would need the car for the day. She was glad that she was insured to drive the car because otherwise Jane wouldn't be able to eat on the way to the precinct which would result in Jane neglecting her breakfast in order to concentrate on searching for the blue eyed child.

Detective Rizzoli looked down at the doll in her arms, "I'll get you back to your owner soon, I promise", she said quietly in an almost inaudible voice, unheard by the woman who was putting their lunch bag and her own bag into the back of the unmarked law enforcement vehicle.

Soon she was getting into the passenger's side of her unmarked car, it felt strange to be in the passenger's seat rather than the driver's seat where she usually sat as it was very rare for her to allow anyone else to drive her car and on those rare occasions that she did it was usually Maura who was driving.

Driving to the precinct consisted mostly of quietness and listening to music as Jane ate her breakfast and sipped at her coffee.

 _So this one's for all the lost children  
This one's for all the lost children  
This one's for all the lost children, wishing them well  
And wishing them home_

"Why would he break his M.O.?", the Detective suddenly asked with confusion in her voice, roughly pressing the button on the radio to change stations, clearly not willing to listen to the song at that current moment, "Why would he take a child? He has no need for a child…".

Doctor Isles bit her lip slightly, hesitating in answering the other woman's question, "I… I'm not sure", she said softly.

The Detective frowned, "What aren't you saying?", she questioned, knowing that the reply she had been given wasn't the full truth.

"Jane", the woman said gently, "Hoyt is obsessed with you and…". She took a deep breath, glancing towards the woman as they neared the precinct.

"And what Maur'?", Jane asked in confusion, "How does him taking a child have anything to do with me?".

Maura took another deep breath before responding to the question that had been posed to her by her best friend, "Alessandra looks like you", she said slowly, "Especially those wild curls".

Jane paused in silence, as Maura continued, "Take a look at the photo in your pocket", she instructed, "Alessandra could easily pass as yours, the only difference is those bright blue eyes of hers".

Extracting the photograph from her jacket pocket, she held it in her hands and looked down at it. Examining it closely. She noticed the bright vivid blue eyes that seemed to sparkle a little, she noticed the mass of dark curls and the slightly olive tone to her skin.

The Chief Medical Examiner continued speaking as she pulled up into Jane's parking spot inside the parking garage of the Boston Police Department Precinct, "It is a distinct possibility that in his rather twisted mind that he sees that little girl as yours…", she paused as she put the brake on, switching off the engine, "...and his".

Jane Rizzoli looked at the Medical Examiner and shook her head, "That little girl will never be his", she said simply.

Maura noticed however that she never said the little girl wouldn't be hers, and as she looked at the woman beside her who was still studying the photo, she realised that this woman wasn't going to let go of the little girl when she found her. Not without a fight. Part of her hoped that for the Detective's sake, no family members came forward to claim the little one.

She leant over slightly after unbuckling her seat belt in order to look at the photo, "She may have the same colour eyes as Hoyt but hers seem brighter, happier and much more beautiful", she said softly, highlighting that important difference.

Jane looked grateful for that distinction and smiled towards Maura, "Come on, we have a child to find", she said softly before pressing a soft chaste kiss to the other woman's lips.

Maura smiled as she got out of the car, following Jane into the precinct and lacing her hand with hers. Jane's other hand held the doll and the photo of the young girl. A photo she vowed to carry with her until she found her. Safe and sound that is of course. Despite knowing that there was still a chance of not finding her alive.

The Medical Examiner had her bag on her shoulder and their lunch bag in her spare hand, extending her finger on that hand to hit the button to the lobby. "We'll find her", she stated again with a smile and confidence in her voice as if she knew that they would find her and knew that she would be safe. Her confidence in it however was not as high as she portrayed, the knowledge that three deceased children awaited in her morgue for her gave her a nerve wracking and nauseating feeling.

Jane nodded, "See you at lunch", she said softly, pressing a kiss to Maura's lips as they made their way to their separate offices. Jane going to the bullpen to meet with her team and Maura going down to the morgue in order to prepare her team for the autopsies scheduled for the day which included the five that she herself would be doing personally.

Once briefing had been completed and each member of her team knew what they were doing for the day, Maura Isles set about starting the autopsy of Mr Thomas Jethro Harmon. She put on her scrubs and gloves after tying up her honey blonde locks and changing her shoes. Her equipment was already prepared for her by one of the assistants and was sterilised, ready for use.

She hit record on the recorder, ready for the microphone to record her findings so that she could write them up later in the autopsy report. Blood had been extracted via a needle in order to test his blood for any substances or anything else relevant to the case.

"This is the autopsy of 53 year old Mr Thomas Jethro Harmon, performed by Doctor Maura Isles at 09:21 on December 26th", she said into the speaker as she looked at the clock to ensure that the time was correct.

Medical history had already been obtained for the man which revealed that he had previous injuries from his time serving in the marines but nothing indicating ill health.

Maura Isles took his fingerprints and scrapings from beneath his fingernails. She also combed his hair to get any residue so that it could be used as evidence if anything was found to be relevant after testing. The woman also noted his clothing and appearance. An assistant photographed the body before Maura began removing his clothing with the help of an assistant. Once the clothing had been removed, another set of photographs were taken.

She then continued with her investigation and her assistant went to process the evidence that had been found on the body including the scrapings from beneath his nails and the clothing.

She listed the multitude of hematomas and contusions that had been left on his body, noting that evidence highlighted that the man had fought previous to his death, though there was evidence that he had landed at least one hit to the man something must have prevented him doing any real damage to the killer. Maura also noted the markings from a surgical knife, his death had not been quick going by the evidence of the markings on the man's body but she knew that he would have been unable to voice what was happening to him or his family with the injury to his neck from the knife. His vocal chords had been heavily compromised.

Maura then used the X-Ray machine to determine whether or not he had any broken bones but found none present, she did however note the previous break that had been mentioned within his medical history.

After extracting a urine sample, she moved on to begin the Y-incision so that she could begin the body cavity examination. She noted no abnormalities within any of the major organs, indicating that he was a healthy man before his death. She continued examining each organ individually, weighing each of them and taking various tissue samples before examining the contents of his stomach. She then went on to examine his eyes and head to look for any trauma to the skull such as bruising or abrasions. The procedure used for the other organs was used again for the brain.

Doctor Maura Isles finished the autopsy by cleaning the ex-marine on her table, sealing the chest cavity and covering his body with a sheet. The assistant re-entered the room to collect the rest of the evidence and helped transfer the man onto the tray ready to slide his body into one of the morgue drawers.

Once the assistant had left the room, Maura took a moment to look at Mr Harmon's body, "We'll find your daughter", she said softly, "I promise you that we're doing everything we can to find her". Those were her last words to him before she slid the drawer shut.

Doctor Maura Isles then went to her office so that she could type up her report whilst the evidence was being tested by her assistants in the lab. She was sat at her desk, her shoes off but beside her feet beneath the desk and she began to type her report up, using a body diagram to mark the injuries as well. The evidence was being fast tracked and it was the main concentration of the lab assistants due to the importance and urgency of finding the young girl.

 **A/N: There won't be nearly as much autopsy details for any of the others but I wanted to set it up with the first one.**

 **Coming Next: Chapter 9 - Jane and her team make a break in the case…**


	9. St Stephen's Day - Part II

Jane was standing in front of the board, one hand resting on her hip with the photo of the little girl clutched within it and the other was up near her face with one finger over her lips as she concentrated on the evidence presented on the board.

On the board, there were photos of the family pinned with the missing little girl in the centre. Each person's name and date of birth were below the photos along with the locations of their bodies within the house. The little girl's photo had the same but with the word 'MISSING' in capital letters above the photo instead of 'DECEASED' which each of her family members had written above their images. The board also contained a map of the house with the locations of the bodies marked on them along with the blood splatter evidence. Pinned on the board was also details of Hoyt and his usual M.O. which had changed slightly in the case of the Harmon family. Written in whiteboard markers were also brief details of what the neighbours had told them during interviews.

There wasn't much information to go on and that fact frustrated Detective Jane Rizzoli along with her colleagues. They were waiting for Maura to complete the autopsies but knew that it would take some time. Jane planned to go down to the morgue later to check on the other woman to make sure that she was okay because she knew that the autopsies of the children would affect the woman more than what an ordinary autopsy would. Maura tended to shop more after cases that involved children, it was her way of coping. A kind of therapy.

"Jane!", Frost called out, "I've got something".

His declaration made her rush to his side, "What is it?", she asked as Korsak also joined them at Frost's desk.

"Traffic cam picked up the truck heading south", he said as he clicked away on the computer, "and you can see Hoyt in the front driving it along with…".

"Alessandra", Jane said softly, finishing his sentence for him. "She's alive…", she said with relief in her voice.

Korsak frowned, "Jane… there is a chance that she won't stay that way", his statement was negative but realistic.

Jane didn't appreciate his comment however, "I don't think he'll kill her", she stated simply.

"What makes you think that?", the greying man said to his ex-partner.

The curly haired woman sighed, "Call it a gut feeling", she said softly before looking down at the photo that had remained in her hand, "Also Maura said something this morning and I think she may be onto something". She bit her lip, pausing before speaking to reveal what the Medical Examiner had proposed, "She highlighted that Hoyt has an obsession with me and that the little girl resembles me but with those bright blue eyes. She also said that it is possible that he sees Alessandra as ours".

Korsak's and Frost's eyebrows shot up, both sighing heavily and glancing at each other briefly. "It is possible", Korsak commented.

"He's twisted if he thinks that", Frost commented, "That little girl looks nothing like him, those eyes are innocent and his… are pure evil". He looked at the photo that Jane had put down on the desk whilst she was telling them Maura's hypothesis, "She does look like you though Jane especially the hair".

Korsak chuckled lightly, "That mass of wild curls is identifiable anywhere", he said picking up the photo and holding it beside Jane.

Jane smiled softly at the comments that the two men had made about the similarity between her and Alessandra. The little girl was beautiful. The similarity between her and the child made the case that much harder on her however as she couldn't help but wonder if she could keep her and raise her with Maura. "Look at her bedroom", she said indicating to the board which had photos of each of the rooms on it beside the map, "She seems to share interests with Maura, there is so much science items in that room and even a microscope".

Frost smiled, "I like all the marine stuff, she was clearly a fan of her father", he said as he studied the photo of the room after following Jane to the board.

Detective Rizzoli nodded and put her hand out to take the photo of Alessandra from his hands, the man willingly handed it over to her. The photo was Alessandra's latest school photo, it had been taken at _Acera Elementary_ which was _The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity and Leadership._ It was a school for the gifted and talented, you had to have an IQ result of at least 130 to apply for a placement in the school and according to her school records she was a model student with an IQ of approximately 150. Her reading level was far beyond her age and she was reading university level books, if she didn't understand a word then she would research it until she did before continuing with the book. The back of the photo had cursive black writing which stated her name, age, the date that the photo was taken and the name of the school along with a small heart outline.

"I've put a BOLO out on the truck so hopefully we get something from it", Frost said after returning to his desk briefly, "Maybe it will lead us straight to her?".

"That would be the luckiest break ever", Jane replied with a heavy sigh.

"Sure would", Korsak replied softly.

The Italian woman sat down at her desk and placed the photo beside her keyboard, "I'm going to search up known associates of Hoyt and maybe we can question them to see if they know anything", she said to the two men, "One of them might know where he's taken her or where he might be hiding out". She began to tap away on the computer, printing off the details for each known associate that had been recorded in the database. Each profile had their last known location, some of them were in prison and a few were deceased but the majority were still residing in Boston according to the information that they had available.

The phone began to ring on Frost's desk and he answered it immediately, speaking to the officer on the phone and he appeared to look hopeful. The man jumped up from his desk, "They've found the truck", he declared, "A motorist spotted it just off Interstate 93 at Junction 12".

"That's all the way down in Dorchester, near the Neponset River", Korsak stated, "It'll take us about 20 minutes to get there".

Jane grabbed the jacket from her chair that she had taken off as soon as she entered the room, "Let's go", she said before starting to walk towards the parking garage, not waiting for the two men but expecting them to follow.

"Maybe we should take the doc with us…", Frost said gently, "Just in case".

The woman nodded and pulled out her cell phone, dialing the woman working downstairs, "Hey Maur', we've got a lead", she said quickly, "Someone called in the abandoned truck just off Interstate 93 at Junction 12".

"I'm on my way up", she stated, leaving her computer on the screen where her report was almost finished being typed up and grabbing her bag before rushing towards the elevator, "I'll meet you by the car".

"See you in a minute", the Detective said before cutting off the call and slipping it back into the holder at her waist.

"I take it she's coming?", Frost asked the woman with a smile as they made their way towards the parking garage where Jane's car was parked.

Jane nodded in response but said nothing as they made their way towards the car. Jane jumped into the front seat and the two men jumped into the back, expecting Maura to sit up front beside the dark haired Italian woman.

Which was exactly what she did when she jumped into the car and put her bag down by her feet, she was slightly out of breath from rushing and her skin was slightly flushed.

"You didn't need to run doc, we would have waited", Korsak said to the woman.

Maura nodded, "I thought it to be appropriate considering Alessandra could be in the car", she said softly glancing over at Jane, "I don't want her to be alone for longer than necessary". She hadn't been told that the girl was in there or not which indicated that whoever called in the tip hadn't checked the car.

Korsak nodded, he felt bad for saying what he had and wished that he had kept his mouth shut but Jane simply smiled towards the woman as she started the car and put her hand on the other woman's thigh. A gesture that was not missed by the two detectives in the back seat who looked at each other with grins on their faces.

As Jane pulled out of the parking garage and started the journey towards the location described in the report, Frost spoke up from the back seat, "Do you think she'll be there?", he asked cautiously.

Jane sighed, keeping her eyes on the road, "I doubt it but we can only hope", she said with the photo of the curly haired child safely in her pocket.

The younger man nodded, "Do you think there's a chance that he'll leave her somewhere?".

Maura looked towards the man briefly, "I don't believe that it would fit with his current behaviour", she said giving her professional opinion on the concept, "I hypothesise that he will keep Alessandra with him until we take her from him". She looked for a short moment towards the Detective whose knuckles had gone white from gripping the steering wheel, "I don't believe that he will let her go without a fight especially if he sees the child...especially if he sees the child as the product of a fantasy relationship between himself… and Jane", she said hesitating on sections of what she was trying to say, reluctant to say them out loud.

"It's in his best interest that he let her go", Jane said with an underlying threat within the tone of her voice, "He screwed up by killing those kids and even more so by taking Alessandra".

A single thought ran through the minds of the other three people in the unmarked law enforcement vehicle, although each mind gave the concept a slightly different phrasing but the concept was the same, _She's going to kill him._

Jane glanced over at Maura before looking straight ahead at the road, she truly did hate Boston traffic, "So…", she began, "We've found out the work history of the parents, what schools the children attended in order to try and work out how Hoyt found them to begin with". She started to go over what they knew so far, "The more we look into this, the more she sounds like you Maur', Alessandra attends a school for the gifted and talented", she said softly, "She has an IQ of approximately 150… she's a bright kid".

"Very bright", Maura commented, "That is quite a rare score for such a young child".

The female detective nodded briefly, "We also know the direction that they originally headed in and Alessandra was visible in the front seat of the truck so we know she was alive at the time that the traffic camera caught them".

Frost spoke up from the back seat, "We also have the make, model and number plate of the truck".

"How are the autopsies coming along Maur'?", Jane asked, glancing at the medical examiner.

"I have completed Mr Harmon's autopsy and I am awaiting the results from the analysis of the evidence found on his body along with the toxicology results", Maura stated, watching Jane drive, "His throat had been cut which had resulted in him being unable to make any form of sound and he had multiple lacerations and hematomas on his body".

"So he fought back?", Korsak asked the medically trained woman sitting in the front seat.

Nodding, Maura replied, "Briefly".

"So Hoyt threatens the lives of the children and his wife, stopping him from fighting back", Jane stated, giving her theory of what happened in the home on Christmas Eve.

Maura nodded, "It is a possibility".

They had been in the car for approximately 10 minutes which indicated that they were around half way there despite traffic.

"When we get back to the station you should come down to my office and we can have our lunch", Maura said towards the Italian detective beside her.

Jane moved her head in a positive motion in order to confirm that she would, "Sounds good Maur'".

"Hey what about us?", Frost said with amusement in his voice, clearly joking with the two women.

Jane grinned, "I'm sure you can join us too but I'm not sharing my lunch with either of you", she said in amusement, "Then again Maura might not want you in her office". Her last comment was clearly a joke which was obvious in her tone of voice and body language along with her facial expressions.

Maura's jaw dropped however, "Jane!", she exclaimed, "Of course they can come into my office".

Detective Rizzoli laughed, "I was just joking Maur', I know you wouldn't ban them from your office". She reached her hand over and returned it to the woman's thigh, gently squeezing the section that her hand covered.

When they finally arrived at the scene, they noticed the truck straight away as Hoyt had not made any attempt to disguise or conceal the vehicle at all. Jane turned off the engine and within nanoseconds she was out of the car and on her way over to the truck. The first thing that she noticed was the absence of the little girl as she wasn't in the front seat nor the back, or at least not visible at all.

The others had followed over and Maura pulled a set of gloves from her bag before sliding them onto her hands and giving Jane a set. "I'll call CSU", Korsak said as he stepped away from the scene.

"I'll call a tow truck so we can get it to evidence", Frost stated before he too stepped away from the two women but in the opposite direction to his male colleague.

Jane opened the door with ease, she had expected it to be locked so she was quite surprised to find it unlocked and unsecured. She looked in the front seat, examining the glove box to look for evidence and found nothing but could see a couple of long curly hairs on the passenger seat, confirming once more that Alessandra Harmon had been in the car at some point.

Maura was looking in the back seat and found a discarded bottle of water which was only partially full. She found herself wondering if the little girl had drunk any of it and also if there was any form of substance laced within the liquid.

Once the two women had searched the interior of the car, they both moved around to the back of the truck which had a large trunk but the blacked out windows of the trunk and the back seats made it difficult to see. Maura looked over at Jane and both took deep breaths before Jane opened up the trunk to find there was nothing there but a photo of Alessandra and Hoyt together, at the bottom of the polaroid were the words _She's mine now._

Jane almost growled with frustration and thumped her fist against the side of the truck which drew the attention of the two male detectives, both of which had finished their individual phone calls and were scanning the area for any evidence or signs as to where they had gone. More importantly signs of where the little girl had been taken.

Maura walked over to the two men and explained what they had found as the other woman stormed off to calm herself down. She paced for a while, wondering what their next move would be, "Damnit", she exclaimed angrily. "She's not yours and never will be", she mumbled to herself, in a voice that was inaudible to the other three people there due to the traffic noise around them.

 **A/N: Thank you for your reviews guys!**

 **Thanks to 'sweetkid45' for consistently reviewing, to see such positivity does truly make my day.**

 **Yes you are most definitely right 'KSHAY89', I definitely did do my homework for chapter eight as I studied the process of autopsies so that I could get the details correct, it was quite interesting to read.**

 **Thank you 'luckypenguinbuddy' for reviewing again, I thought it would be best to start with the father's autopsy as in a way it would be the 'easiest' to do which means that the next will be the mother's (which will be slightly less information) before eventually the children whose autopsies I will only briefly touch upon whilst concentrating on Maura's feelings about the process.**

 **Also BTW the dress that Maura is mentioned as wearing in the previous chapter is real and was worn on the show by Sasha Alexander - I wanted to add an aspect of canon fashion into it. The nightwear worn by Jane is available on the MLB clothing store website and the journal is real too - I wasn't sure what Journals Maura Isles actually reads so I put the local one in there. In fact all the products in Italics are available online.**

 **The song lyrics in chapter eight are from 'Lost Children' by Michael Jackson and the lyrics from chapter six are from Idina Menzel's 'Baby It's Cold Outside'.**

 **The location where the truck was found is also real and in Boston, also it is approximately 20 minutes from the station too! I am going to try and make it as realistic as possible by putting facts within the story (such as the autopsy procedures, investigation information and testing as well as products so that people can look up different things if they want to in order to visually see what the characters are wearing when possible).**

 **I am hoping to update my other stories but this one seems to be so much easier to write for me, or at least I think it is…**

 **If you have any suggestions or CONSTRUCTIVE criticism please feel free to throw a review at me!**


	10. St Stephen's Day - Part III

After waiting for CSU to arrive, the team left the scene in order to return to the precinct so that they could continue looking for the child although also to have lunch first. Korsak's stomach had growled on the way back out of hunger which amused Frost. Maura was distracted listening to the music on the radio.

 _It's been a long day without you my friend  
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again  
We've come a long way from where we began  
Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again  
When I see you again_

Meanwhile, Jane was sat in the driving seat, her knuckles hurting as they were gripping the steering wheel tight enough to cause them to go as white as snow. Her thoughts were focused on the little girl. Alessandra. She sighed heavily, trying to focus on the road ahead as a distraction but it wasn't working.

 _Why would he take her? What need has he for a child? Why would he possibly think that this child could be ours? What screwed up world does he live in where he thinks I would ever be interested in him? What messed up world could he possibly be in that he thinks that that beautiful baby girl could ever be his? She isn't his. She will never ever be his._ Constant and repetitive questions flowed through her mind as she tried to wrap her brain around the sudden change in M.O. but she was struggling to find a solution to the the issues of the case and it frustrated her that the little girl was still missing.

She knew that the chance that the little girl was still in the abandoned vehicle was low but she couldn't help but hold out hope that she would be.

 _How could we not talk about family when family's all that we got?  
Everything I went through you were standing there by my side  
And now you gonna be with me for the last ride_

Jane heard the line of the song about family and she glanced to the side in order to get a quick look of the woman beside her, Maura had stood by her through everything. She had been there through disastrous relationships, the torture of Hoyt, the nightmares, the various dramatic events that plagued her life and the loss of her adorable baby boy. She would forever be grateful for the woman's relentless and unconditional support. The woman was family to her and always had been, even before they got together.

It was true that family was extremely important to her but then she had a realisation. The little girl she was looking for, the little girl that _they_ were looking for had no family left. She was alone. Her mother, father and siblings had been murdered in her own home. The place that she was supposed to feel the safest had been turned into a blood stained crime scene. Although in truth the crime scene had been cleaned and was no longer painted in the blood of her family.

A heavy sigh escaped from her soft lips, _Maybe I could be her family_ , she thought to herself as she drove to the precinct, _Maybe_ _we_ _could,_ her internal voice said as she glanced yet again at the honey blonde in the passenger seat who had her hand resting calmly upon the detective's thigh. A little higher than what would have been considered as simply 'friendly' support.

The support that Maura was giving Jane in that moment made both men smile, as they were happy that the two of them finally saw what was right in front of them although they were surprised that it had taken them both so long to figure it out.

As they finally neared the station after about quarter of an hour of driving back, Jane caught the lyrics or least part of them and it made her wonder if the little girl was aware of what had happened in her home. She wondered if she knew she had been kidnapped and if she knew that could possibly be in grave danger. Did the little girl know that she was in the presence of a man who was guilty of horrific serial murders? Did she know that she was helpless in the hands of a psychotic serial killer? Or did she think she was safe?

 _I was all out of hope and all out of fight  
Couldn't fight back the tears so I fell on my knees  
Saying, "God, if you're there come and rescue me."_

Jane made a promise silently to the little girl although knew that she could not possibly hear her, she vowed to never give up searching for her until she was safe in her arms with her doll. She wanted to know that Alessandra was okay, that she was safe. Jane allowed herself in the situation as a parent, wondering what she would do if it had been Angioletto and in that moment she knew that she would have torn the city apart looking for him as well as whatever locations that the case lead them too. It was then that she knew that it was exactly what she needed to do for this little girl. She would not give up without a fight. She would never give up the search for the curly haired child at any cost.

The female detective pulled into her parking space in the Boston Police Department's parking garage and cut off the engine. Both men got out and when Jane was about to, Maura reached out and gently grabbed hold of her arm, effectively stopping her from leaving. "Are you okay?", she asked in a soft and gentle voice towards her lover.

She paused, looking down before she looked up into Maura's emotive hazel eyes, "I will be as soon as we find Alessandra", she replied before pulling herself away and climbing out of the car.

Momentarily, Maura closed her eyes and pulled her upper lip into her mouth. _We need to find her and soon, not just for her safety but also Jane's sanity_ , was the thought that drifted through her mind as she climbed out of the car, closed the door and followed Jane along with the other two detectives who had already begun to walk when Maura stopped Jane from exiting the vehicle. It was in order to give the two women a moment of space as they knew that it was needed.

"Are you coming down to my office for lunch Jane?", she asked the detective in order to check that the Italian woman hadn't changed her mind on the journey back to the precinct.

Jane nodded positively, "Yep", she said with a smile, "I'm starving". Her comment was much more dramatic than necessary but it made Maura smile which in turn made the curly haired woman slightly happier than she had been on the drive back.

As they got into the elevator, the Chief Medical Examiner turned to the two men and smiled politely, "You are both more than welcome to join us in my office for lunch if you'd like to, although I'm afraid that I haven't packed enough food for us all", she said softly, "However I believe that Angela was making a new type of baguette today as she's acting manager for the next two weeks whilst Mr Stanley is on vacation in Connecticut for his daughter's wedding".

"How do you know this stuff Maur'?", she asked, surprised that she knew about the man's vacation plans as she herself was unaware that he even had a daughter but then again she didn't exactly care either.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner shrugged her shoulders uncharacteristically towards the woman in response before speaking, "Your mother told me". The reply made Jane nod, as she should have expected that her mother had something to do with it due to her keen nature to get involved in other people's business.

"What type of baguette?", Frost interrupted eagerly.

"I bet it's really tasty", Korsak commented, "Angela is the best cook there is". All in the elevator agreed to his statement before stepping out of the elevator on the main floor.

"This morning she was intending on making a 'meat feast' baguette with marinara sauce", Maura replied to the two men who were both taking great interest in the possible new baguette that they could have for their lunch, "She said that there would be sliced meat along with handmade meatballs". "Did you know the the meatball can be traced back as far as the Qin dynasty in China during 220 BC to 207 BC and in Arabic cooking the meatball is the size of an average orange but in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the meatball is even bigger as it is…".

The woman didn't finish before Jane interrupted, "Come on Maur', the men want to get there lunch and I want mine too", she said softly as she put her hand on the woman's shoulder to stop her.

Maura raised her eyebrow as she truly did hate being interrupted.

Korsak chuckled softly at the interaction and Frost looked just as amused, "How big at the Azer-whatsit meatballs Doctor Isles?", the older man asked seeming interested.

The highly knowledgeable woman smiled, it boosted her confidence when people took interest in what she had to say, "Please Detective Korsak as I've said before please call me Maura", she said politely.

The aging man nodded, "I will when you stop calling me Detective Korsak and just stick with Korsak or even Vince?", he proposed with a smile, "so what about these giant meatballs?".

Maura smiled, it was a genuine smile, "The meatball often cooked within the Republic of Azerbaijan is usually around 20 centimeter in diameter".

All three of the detective's eyebrows shot up, "Wow that is some impressive meatball", Korsak commented.

"Do you think Angela would be willing to make those for the precinct?", Frost asked, "'Cause they sound amazing".

Jane seemed keen on the idea too, especially when she glanced over towards the Division One cafe where her mother was currently employed, "You'll have to ask her, now you guys go and get your lunch", she said with slight amusement, "Before Maura gives us the history of baguettes and marinara sauce too".

Her last comment resulted in a slight glare from the woman in question but Jane just chuckled lightly, "I'm just messing Maur', you know I love you", she said sincerely before pressing a loving kiss to the woman's forehead in front of all that were in the lobby. Which of course made more than a few eyebrows shoot up at the intimate gesture that had been presented before them.

The glare vanished instantly as Maura heard the words _I love you_ spoken to her by the woman that she had fallen in love with years previously and she couldn't help but smile at the words before grinning when the woman's lips met her forehead. She was tempted to grab hold of the detective and pull her close to plant a searing and extremely passionate kiss to her lips but she knew that it was not the time nor the place to be expressing such feelings when so many eyes were observing their interactions in that moment. So instead she decided to wait until they were alone in her office downstairs.

The two male detectives excused themselves and went in search of Jane's mother in order to purchase two of what they thought could be their best lunch yet. They were both very fond of the Italian matriarch's cooking, they had eaten her cooking many times before and knew that her homemade authentic Italian food was the best that they had ever tasted. They were especially a huge fan of her marinara sauce which on multiple occasions had ended up down their shirts from biting into sandwiches or accidentally dropping it down them during dinner.

Korsak and Frost both walked into the Division One Cafe and headed straight for the counter where a smiling Angela Rizzoli was hard at work, as she saw both of the men approach her, she smiled brightly towards them. "How are you boys? What can I get you?", she asked in her usual motherly tone of voice.

She was a very maternal type of woman and liked to take care of all that worked at the precinct, at times she may not be keen on the career paths that two of her children had taken but that was solely because of the danger that they seemed to repeatedly get themselves into. She was however extremely proud of them both and admired each and every one of the people who were on the blue line.

"I'm good Mrs Rizzoli", Frost replied, along with Korsak who said he was 'fine' in a polite manner as per usual.

"How many times must I ask that you call me Angela?", she said with a smile, "Mrs Rizzoli always reminds me of my mother-in-law and she was always such a mean woman".

Frost nodded, "I will try to remember that for the future".

"So boys, what can I get you both?", she asked with a bright smile.

Korsak grinned, "We heard that you're making a new baguette", he said with enthusiasm within his voice.

"Maura said there was marinara sauce and meatballs in it", Frost said excitedly at the prospect of the new baguette, clearly a fan of Angela's cooking.

"She even gave us some history about meatballs", Korsak said with amusement laced in his facial expressions and voice.

Frost nodded, agreeing with the man beside him, "Apparently the Azer-whatsit people make their meatballs to be 20 centimeters wide!", he exclaimed, clearly quite amazed by the size of the meatball.

Angela laughed softly at this information, she was often quite intrigued by some of the things that the Medical Examiner came out with, "You heard right although my meatballs aren't quite as big as the Azer-whatsit people have", she said in amusement.

"It would be so cool if you could make meatballs that are that big", Frost commented towards the woman who was stood behind the cafe counter.

Mrs Rizzoli nodded, "Maybe I will see what I can do about that", she said with a smile, delighted that both men's faces lit up at the prospect of giant meatballs, "Then you'll have to come to dinner when I do".

"We'll be there", both men instantaneously declared with much enthusiasm.

She was soon busying herself, preparing the baguettes that had been requested by her daughter's two colleagues and she looked up at them momentarily as she made them, "Any news on the little girl?", she asked curiously.

Frost and Korsak both sighed heavily and looked at each other with regret, both feeling multiple negative emotions concerning the fact that they weren't much closer to finding the young girl than they had been before.

"We found the truck on I 93 but there wasn't any trace of the girl", Korsak said to the woman as he watched her making their lunch using the ingredients that she had mostly made herself, "CSU is going over the truck".

Angela nodded, "You'll find her", she said with confidence, "I just know it".

Korsak smiled at her comment and her confidence in their ability, "I sure do hope so Angela".

Meanwhile in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts, Maura found herself pressed up against the inside of the door to the office with the Italian's hands roaming over her body before gripping her behind to pull her even closer than she already was and the other woman's lips locking passionately with hers as their tongues duelled in a searing battle.

When they finally broke apart due to the need for oxygen becoming too much, the both of them were flushed, their eyes dilated and panting for breath as their lungs attempted to grasp as much oxygen as possible after being starved of it throughout the breathtaking kiss.

"I love you so much", Jane gasped as she pressed a brief and chaste kiss to her lover's lipstick painted lips.

Maura smiled brightly at the words that the Italian woman spoke and her eyes lit up with pure unadulterated happiness, "I love you too Jane with everything that I am", her words were genuine and it was obvious in her facial expressions as she raised her hand to cup the woman's cheek in a loving gesture.

"I really wish you hadn't invited them down here for lunch", Jane commented with a smirk plastered on her face.

The woman that was still pinned to the wooden door blushed slightly, "And why would that be _Detective_?", she said in a seductive manner as she ran her hand lightly through the woman's dark curls.

"Oh I think you know why", Detective Rizzoli replied with the smirk remaining on her face.

Using her right leg, she lifted up her heels to drag them up the other woman's leg in order to wrap her leg around the woman's hip and tug her ever closer making them both moan in pleasure, especially Maura.

"You know how I feel about guessing", Maura said with a smirk that matched the one that had been on Jane's face moments earlier.

Jane leant forward so that her lips were so close to Maura's ear that they grazed across the shell of the woman's ear and she began to whisper into her ear what she wanted to do to her right there in her office with the blinds closed and door locked with an extreme lack of clothing on both of their parts.

"I think we'll have to wait until later for that", Maura said softly, cupping the woman's cheek once more, "We will soon have company and we need to eat our lunch so that you can get back out there and I can carry out Mrs Harmon's autopsy". She was being responsible despite the fact that she desperately wanted to give into Jane's idea of what to do in that moment with her. Despite it being an extremely unprofessional concept, it was a very tempting one.

Groaning, Jane nodded before kissing the woman lovingly and reaching around her to unlock the door to the office once more, "Come on then", she said softly.

"I'll grab our lunch", Maura said with a smile before going over to her desk and pulling the cooler bag out from beneath it.

"No dead fridge today?", Jane questioned with an amused smirk, although in truth she really didn't like her food in the 'dead fridge' as she found the concept to be slightly creepy despite the fact that Maura insisted that it wasn't contaminated in any manner and was perfectly safe to eat.

Maura laughed softly and shook her head lightly, "No Jane", she replied simply before moving to sit beside the woman on the sofa.

It was then that the two men made their entrance with their baguettes in hand that were wrapped in their paper bags with serviettes supplied for when they got messy because Angela knew that they would. They always did with her marinara sauce and she had added extra meat into the baguette just for them.

"Hey", Frost said as he entered the room before Korsak also greeted both women.

Maura and Jane both greeted them in return before Jane commented, "You got your baguettes then?".

"Yep!", Korsak replied with enthusiasm, "And they smell delicious".

"I bet they taste even better", Frost commented, "Oh and your mother agreed to make those giant meatballs".

"Even invited us over to dinner to eat them", Korsak said happily.

Jane grinned, "That sounds great", she commented, "Giant meatballs with marinara sauce". She rubbed her stomach for dramatic effect, "Mmm… that sounds irresistible".

Maura chuckled in amusement as she opened the container of her lunch and wondered if she should have gotten Jane one of the baguettes instead of the sandwich that she had made for her, despite knowing that Jane liked those ones.

The woman beside her started to tuck into her sandwich before Maura had a chance to voice her thoughts on the matter and seemed to be enjoying it so she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything but decided that she would get the detective one tomorrow. She knew that Jane would also let her try a bit of it too as she usually did permit the woman to try whatever she was eating in an attempt to get the woman to try new foods that she hadn't eaten before, foods that she hadn't had growing up like Jane had.

After lunch, the two men stood up and excused themselves so that they could continue their search. Both were wearing their suits, Frost was wearing a black one with a light blue shirt whilst Korsak was wearing a grey suit with a white shirt but each had traces of marinara sauce on their clothing, not that either women told them this fact. A drop could be seen in the centre of Korsak's shirt whilst Frost had traces on the cuff of his sleeve.

When the two men got up to the bullpen, Frost intended to search the cameras in the area that they had found the truck in order to work out where they had gone after abandoning the vehicle.

Korsak planned to take another look at the information that they had so far including the witness statements that they had collected on Christmas Day in order to check that they hadn't missed anything.

"I'll send the autopsy report up to you as soon as I've taken a look at the test results from toxicology and results from trace", Maura said to the detectives.

"Thanks Maura", Korsak said softly, getting used to the concept of calling the Medical Examiner by her first name.

Jane looked at the two men and remained seated, "I'm going to stay down here and stand in whilst Maura performs the autopsy on Mrs Harmon", she said simply before taking a sip of her water.

Both men nodded, "I'll call you if we find anything", Korsak stated as he looked at the dark haired woman.

"Thanks", the woman replied before they left the office and made their way towards the elevator so that they could go back up to the bullpen.

Maura got up from the sofa and began to tidy away the traces of their lunch break, she didn't mind it when Jane stood in to watch the autopsies as she knew that it was out of interest and not out judgement or lack of trust or even doubt within her ability as a Medical Examiner.

 **A/N: Thank you for the review 'sweetkid45'. Yes they will eventually get Alessandra back but it is going to take a lot of hard work!**

 **The first song (two paragraphs) featured within this story is that of Wiz Khalifa's 'See You Again' and the second is Carrie Underwood's 'Something in the Water'.**

 **Next: Mrs Harmon's autopsy… will they uncover anything that will help them find Alessandra?**


	11. St Stephen's Day - Part IV

**A/N: Warning! Very brief mention of evidence of rape/sexual assault.**

Maura sat down at her desk and began to tap away on her computer, "Other than high caffeine levels in his system, Mr Harmon's toxicology results have come back as what would be expected of a man of his age", she said to the female detective.

"Urgh!", Jane exclaimed in annoyance at the lack of evidence, "What about the trace results?".

She knew that the detective wasn't annoyed at her but at the lack of substantial leads on the case of the missing girl who despite never meeting the child, both women were already quite fond of. "The trace results indicate that the defensive wounds were caused by attempting to fight off Charles Hoyt", she said glancing up from her computer briefly but continuing to type as she transferred and compiled all of the information into one document for the detectives, "Epithelial Cells were found beneath Mr Harmon's fingernails that matched Hoyt along with a very small amount of blood trace".

"So Mr Harmon managed to scratch Hoyt in the process?", Jane questioned in order to confirm what she was being told.

Replying with a nod, Maura said softly, "It would appear that way, yes".

"Can you print me off a copy of that?", Jane asked politely, indicating towards the laptop that Maura was typing on and referring to the document that she knew would be sent upstairs, "Then I can read through it while I'm down here".

The honey blonde woman finished typing and nodded, "Of course Jane", she said simply as she hit the print button on the computer screen, "You'll find that his cause of death was determined to be exsanguination caused by the deep laceration to his jugular vein".

Jane nodded, "So his throat was cut and he bled to death", she said as she walked to the printer at the side of the room.

"Yes", Maura confirmed, "It would have been quite a slow death by the looks of the angle and depth of the laceration".

The printer produced the pieces of slightly warm paper that were covered in writing and diagrams along with graphs to show the results of the autopsy along with the toxicology and trace evidence that had been presented. The report also showed photos of the body clothed and unclothed in order to show visual evidence of the wounds as well as the placement of blood splatter on the clothing.

"So he picked the easiest part to make the most damage?", Jane commented in a manner that sounded much like a question.

Maura nodded, "Yes, it is one of the most vulnerable points on the body because the jugular vein carries the deoxygenated blood from the brain back down to the heart".

Jane Rizzoli picked up the papers and shuffled them ever so slightly so that they were neat as there were quite a few sheets of A4 paper within the report.

"It explains the large amount of blood splatter in the living room and the huge quantity on the carpet beneath Mr Harmon's body", Jane said as she stapled the report together to make it easier for her to hold when she read through it.

Doctor Isles was always precise and accurate when she did her reports as they were always more detailed than she had ever seen anyone else do. The woman would order extra tests, use new procedures that she learnt and include every little piece of information about the deceased whether it was relevant to the case or not and she treated each one with the utmost of respect and consideration no matter who they were.

"Depending on the age and fitness of a person, the loss of a half to two thirds of the volume of blood within your body can result in death", Maura stated professionally, "In Mr Harmon's case, despite being 53 years old he was in rather healthy and by the looks of his muscular system I believe that he was keeping fit through the use of exercise". The other woman was listening intently to every word that the doctor had to say about the case, although glancing down every now and then to the paperwork in her hands, "I would estimate that Mr Harmon lost approximately a little over two thirds of his overall blood volume", the doctor told Jane, "This leads me to believe that for Mr Harmon's death to occur it would have taken approximately ten minutes for his heart to stop beating although he would have lost consciousness before that point".

"Maura?", Jane asked as she looked up at the other woman with worry within the depths of her eyes.

"Yes Jane?", the woman replied with a slightly tilted head, an action that Jane always thought was rather adorable not that she had spoken those words out loud yet.

Jane hesitated as she bit her lip and looked down briefly in the direction of her black leather boots before looking back up again to meet the worried hazel eyes of her girlfriend and best friend, "Do you think that the kids saw it?", she asked, clearly worried that they had seen such a gruesome and horrific thing happen to their father, "Do you think Alessandra saw?".

"I can't confirm that until I have completed the autopsies on the…", she took a breath before continuing, "...on the children". Maura Isles stepped closer and put her hand on Jane's upper arm, "I'll be able to confirm an approximate timeline of their deaths once I have completed the autopsies on Mrs Harmon along with Christian, Tyler and Kelly".

Realising that the woman had failed to mention anything about Alessandra, she nodded and decided to push the question. She wanted an answer, despite being worried about what that answer could be, "What about Alessandra?", she asked, wanting Maura's opinion, "Do you think she saw anything?".

"I don't believe that she did because looking at the photos taken by the traffic camera, Alessandra didn't seem to be in any distress which would indicate that she didn't or doesn't comprehend the danger that she's in", Maura explained with a hand still holding onto the detective's bicep brachii as she spoke, "I would hypothesise that Alessandra isn't aware of what happened to her family and that for some reason Hoyt shielded her from the bodies, most likely in order to keep her calm so that he could take her without any trouble".

Jane let out a breath that she was unaware that she was holding to begin with and sighed slightly in relief. To know that the little girl hadn't seen such horrors calmed her a little as it meant there was less psychological trauma inflicted upon the child than what could have been if she had been a witness to the murder of any or all of her family members or even saw their corpses in such horrific states.

It was always the eyes that seemed to bother Jane, she had to close them each time because the blank stare was simply haunting and in difficult cases it was the eyes that haunted her. She could only imagine what effect the sight would have on the curly haired little girl. Jane was relieved at the concept that Alessandra had been shielded from such a horrifying and damaging sight.

Doctor Maura Isles began to prepare for the autopsy of Mrs Michelle Jane Harmon, she changed her shoes once more and placed her designer heels beneath her desk before tying up her hair and changing into a set of scrubs so that her clothing wouldn't get messy.

Jane sat down on the sofa whilst her girlfriend prepared for the autopsy of the murdered mother, checking the emails via her cell phone and taking a sip of her water. She was glad that it had been chilled in the cooler as it felt refreshing as it traveled down her esophagus.

"I'm about to start if you'd like to watch", Maura said as she stood in the doorway to her office where the detective had remained. The tools and equipment needed for the procedure had already been prepared by her team.

Jane nodded and exited the office in order to enter the morgue where the clothed body of Mrs Harmon lay.

Maura took vials of her blood for testing in order to complete the toxicology reports and they were passed directly to the assistant who placed them neatly on a metal tray ready to take to the lab.

Flicking the switch to the recorder, the Chief Medical Examiner began to speak with an assistant off to the side who was awaiting the next instruction, "This is the autopsy of 45 year old Mrs Michelle Jane Harmon, performed by Doctor Maura Isles at 13:52 on December 26th", she said with a quick look to check that the time she stated was as accurate as possible.

Maura began to note what the woman was wearing which was a matching black lace lingerie set with a navy blue silk robe that reached her knees. The robe had been tied up after her death for her modesty although that fact had been documented within the reports from the scene. Mrs Harmon's hair was slightly splayed out on the metal table, a mass of dark curls. The woman wore no makeup but she wore false manicure fingernails that made her fingernails much longer than they were naturally. Photographs were taken of the body by an assistant in order to document the clothing before they were then removed. Throughout the process she spoke into the microphone that was positioned level to her head.

She had already read the murder victim's medical history before starting the process of the autopsy examination. According to the records that she had obtained, Mrs Harmon had been a healthy woman up until she had complications with her pregnancy when she was carrying Alessandra Mai Harmon who had been born prematurely on July 4th, four years ago.

Reports stated that the mother had suffered from a form of preeclampsia called H.E.L.L.P syndrome which is a life threatening condition for both mother and child especially if not treated. It had gone undetected throughout the pregnancy due to multiple medical failures. The syndrome reveals itself with (H)emolysis, which is the breaking down of red blood cells, (E)evated (L)iver enzymes and a (L)ow (P)latelet count.

The Medical Examiner took scrapings from beneath the false fingernails of the Boston Cambridge University lecturer, revealing what appeared to be blood traces.

Jane was stood close by with the report in her hands from the autopsy of Mr Harmon, the husband of the woman currently lying still and lifeless on Maura's slab, "That's blood", she stated, "Do you think she managed to scratch him too?".

Maura frowned slightly, "Jane, you know I can't confirm that it's blood until the tests have been done to show the various traces beneath her nails", she said as she looked up at the woman standing near her, "I can however confirm that it is similar visually to the traces found beneath Mr Harmon's nails although in a much larger quantity".

"So she managed to fight more than what her husband did", Jane said more so to herself than anything else. It was then that his original M.O. came to mind. Usually he would focus on couples after stalking them for a certain time period of his choosing but clearly the sight of Alessandra had altered his plan. In a 'normal' case he would then restrain the husband in order to rape the wife whilst the man is made to watch the torture. This fact made her question what the woman had gone through. Had he sexually assaulted Mrs Harmon? Multiple differences were between his usual M.O. and his new one.

The doctor used the specially made black ink in order to take the woman's fingerprints and passed the card to her assistant after handing her the trace evidence from beneath her nails in a small sealed bag. She combed out the woman's hair to search for any trace on the scalp or laced within the hair strands and found it to be slightly tangled. The trace again was handed over to the assistant in the appropriate evidence bag.

After being given a brief signal, the assistant came to the side of the metal slab and assisted with the removal of the woman's small amount of clothing. The female assistant then used the camera to take another set of images for evidence purposes to document the obvious signs of trauma.

Chief Medical Examiner Doctor Maura Isles continued to document the injuries found on the deceased woman, including the multiple hematomas and contusions along with what appeared to be smeared blood.

Jane's hand went to her mouth and her eyes closed briefly as she noticed the evidence on the woman's thighs. Despite being a detective for years, she wasn't immune to the horrors of the cases. She was after all; human. Maura knew that she didn't have to voice out loud what the blood smears on the woman's thighs meant or the visible trauma to the area meant, she didn't even need a test to confirm that it was the direct result of sexual assault.

"The cause of death seems to be the same as her husband; Mr Harmon", Maura said as she looked up at Jane, "Exsanguination due to a laceration of the jugular vein".

Jane remained silent but nodded in response to indicate that she had heard what the doctor had told her and that she had understood what she was being told. Her facial expression and body language also indicated that she comprehended what she hadn't been told too.

After ensuring that they were properly protected from the radiation, Maura used an X-Ray machine in order to determine whether or not the woman had any breaks or fractures in her skeletal frame. She then used light boxes that were mounted on the wall which were made for this purpose in order to pin them up so that she could see them with much more clarity.

"Any broken bones?", Jane questioned as she stepped away from the bruised body of Mrs Harmon and towards the honey blonde doctor.

Maura concentrated on the various slides in front of her and shook her head, "No but she has a spiral fracture to her left arm", she revealed, "It is possible that she received it when Hoyt attempted to restrain her".

When Doctor Isles stepped back towards the body, the assistant collected the slides from the screen and put them into an envelope ready to be examined even closer using magnification by the assistants in the lab.

She had extracted a urinary sample and was preparing to make the Y-incision when she ran a gloved finger from her left hand over the singular c-section scar on her lower abdomen, "You know this makes it even more surprising that Alessandra's IQ scores are so high", she commented quietly.

Jane looked up at her from where she had been focusing on the scar, "Huh?", she asked in confusion.

Her honey blonde, medically trained girlfriend looked up at Jane, "Alessandra was born prematurely at around 33 weeks and according to medical records she was…".

"I know Maur', I've seen them", Jane said with a sigh, "Alessandra suffered from jaundice and breathing difficulties due to improperly formed lungs". "She also suffered from multiple infections throughout infancy resulting in two hospitalisations", the detective had the information memorised, "What does that have to do with the fact that the kid is a genius?".

Maura watched the detective and said nothing whilst the woman spoke. She replied politely despite being cut off when she had been talking, "When a child is born prematurely they can suffer from a multitude of long term issues including slow development". "Obviously I'm not saying that it isn't possible for a premature infant to go on to develop a high IQ but a slow development rate could hinder that", the woman said before quoting a study that she had previously read on the subject matter.

 _My little miracle_ , were the words that floated through the mind of the curly haired detective before she spoke, "A miracle baby then".

Maura smiled and chose to nod in agreement to the woman's statement before she leant over with her scalpel in order to start the y-incision on the female victim's torso. The woman performed an internal examination including the weighing of each organ and the removal of tissue samples before moving on to the examination of the skull.

The movement of the woman's head resulted in her noticing that something was inside the victim's mouth. She frowned as she leant forward and with the assistance of tweezers she extracted a scrap of paper that had been screwed up into a ball.

Carefully, the meticulous doctor unfolded the paper using tweezers instead of her fingers so that she wouldn't damage the note. Jane looked on with her breath unknowingly held as she concentrated on what was being uncovered.

"My Dearest Jane, We will soon be together again so that we can be a family. You, me and our darling daughter", Maura read out, feeling nauseous as she read the scrawled words out loud to the woman it was addressed to, "Then he signed it… with the letter x, which I believe is supposed to symbolise a kiss". The concept of the man kissing her girlfriend made her feel even sicker than she already felt and it was clear that Jane felt the same way.

As the note was put inside the correct evidence bag and handed off to the assistant, Jane bit her lip and ran her hand through her hair, "I need to sit down for a moment, I'll be in your office", she stated. She didn't wait for a response but instead made her way straight to her girlfriend's office or more accurately to the bathroom within the office in order to throw up the lunch that Maura had given her previous to the autopsy.

Maura took the time to clean the body before covering her over with the correct sheet so that she could be put away in one of the autopsy drawers, "We'll find your baby girl", the doctor whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

 **A/N: I know I said that I wouldn't go into much detail for the other autopsies but as I was writing this chapter I felt that it needed the detail so that the note could be revealed more accurately and so that the case could be linked in a way to his normal M.O., I do however PROMISE not to go into detail for the three children as I believe that it would be very hard to write and even harder for some to read. Instead of autopsy details it will focus mostly on Maura's feelings and the effects that the process has on her. I'm not 100% sure on how but I will work it out somehow.**

' **Luckypenguinbuddy', as I said in my private message, I apologise for not mentioning you in the previous chapter as my update was posted after I got the notification of your review. I agree, the break was definitely what they needed due to the difficulty of the case and the effects of their recent bereavement however it was an unplanned chapter despite having almost 40 chapters planned! Originally chapter 9 and 10 were going to be one chapter with only a brief mention of their lunch but it wrote itself and apparently my mind decided we needed an 'Angela Rizzoli' fix! Thank you again for your reviews, I always look forward to reading them.**

 **Thank you for your consistent reviews 'sweetkid45', it is great to know that you've liked what you've read so far - hopefully I can keep that up.**

' **Tasheika . conley', apologies for making you cry although I must be doing something right if my writing can evoke such emotion in a reader! Thank you for your multiple reviews. Apologies but I won't be writing about Alessandra's experience of being with Hoyt until after she's found because I want the reader to have the information that the team have so that they can feel the emotions that those involved in the case feel, at least that is my aim. I will however make use of flashbacks when she is found in order to reveal what she experienced as well as a child-friendly interview along with various events that will happen after she is found.**

 **Thank you for your review 'dd113', I am pleased that you think so positively about the story so far, hopefully I can do the crime aspect of it justice.**

 **Don't hesitate to drop reviews and let me know what you all think, if you have an idea that you'd like to see I'd love to know. I have set out approximately 40 chapters in my plan and timeline set-up but am willing to compromise ;)**


	12. St Stephen's Day - Part V

Maura was about to go to her office in order to find Jane, just as one of her assistants came round the corner and stopped her, "Doctor Isles?", the woman said softly to her boss.

The honey blonde smiled politely, although quite eager to get to her girlfriend, "Yes Juliana?", she said towards the small dark haired woman with green eyes who were black framed glasses and diamond earrings along with her work issued lab coat.

Juliana held out a piece of paper towards the Chief Medical Examiner, "I have completed the hair analysis to compare the hair that was found in the truck to the hair left on the child's hairbrush", she paused, hesitating in delivering the news, "She was definitely in the car Doctor Isles".

Maura nodded, "We know", she said simply scanning down the document, "I just wanted to confirm that it was her hair that we found".

"Of course Doctor Isles", the woman said politely, "We analysed the hair for any traces of drugs or signs of malnutrition or poor diet but the young girl seems to have been in good health and very well cared for previous to her abduction". "The DNA from the hair also matches that of Mr and Mrs Harmon which confirms that they are the birth parents", the lab tech said towards her boss.

"Are the results back from the water bottle that was found at the scene yet?", the Doctor asked her employee with a professional demeanor.

Juliana Bracco nodded in response to the woman's question and pulled another piece of paper from her clipboard, "The analysis of the water revealed that it was laced with _Flunitrazepam_ ", she said as the other woman read over the document that she had been handed, "We ran the test twice to make sure but there is DNA on the mouth of the water bottle that matches the DNA found within the strand of hair from the original crime scene and from the secondary crime scene".

Doctor Maura Isles nodded as she listened, "So Hoyt has her drugged with _Rohypnol_ ", she said with a sigh, she didn't look forward to telling Jane that the little girl they were looking for was drugged and that it would act as a muscle relaxant as well as sedative. "Thank you for letting me know Juliana", she said politely, in a manner that dismissed her gently.

Juliana Bracco, one of the lab techs nodded, leaving the documents with her boss and departed in order to return to the lab so that she could help continue analysing evidence from the truck crime scene along with the evidence from the most recent autopsy.

"How did she take it?", Peter Hunt said towards Juliana as she re-entered the lab.

The dark haired woman shrugged ever so slightly towards the 42 year old man, "I'm not sure but I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Detective Rizzoli that the little girl was drugged".

Peter nodded, "Nor would I", he commented, "She seems very attached to the case".

She nodded with a sigh, "I feel really bad for the both of them", she commented quietly, "After everything that they've been through, I think this case is just bringing everything to the surface".

Mr Hunt agreed before they went back to their jobs, analysing the evidence from Mrs Harmon's autopsy and finishing off the last evidence from the car scene.

Meanwhile back in Maura's office, Jane was sat with her head in her hands after brushing her teeth with a spare toothbrush that she kept in Maura's ensuite bathroom and using the mouthwash that the other woman left in there for emergencies.

After speaking with Juliana, Maura Isles made her way into her office to find Jane. She frowned slightly upon seeing the body language of the detective sat on her sofa. The way her head was thrown forward to rest in her hands, the way her hair fell to cover her face and the way her body was slumped over in a hunched position.

The honey blonde woman stepped into the office further in order to turn and gently close the wooden door behind her. She walked around the room, pulling down the blinds in order to shut the room off from the rest of the morgue.

Jane Rizzoli didn't move to acknowledge the other woman's actions but remained in her position with her head down.

Carefully, Maura sat down beside the dark haired detective on the sofa and reached out to put her hand on the woman's shoulder in a comforting manner.

She reached her hand out and rested in gently upon the medical examiner's knee and squeezed it gently in a reassuring manner.

Soon, Maura found herself wrapping the detective in her arms to hold her close in a loving embrace. Jane didn't fight the hold or pull back but instead let herself be pulled close and held. Her hands reached up and gripped the material at the back of the woman's blue designer dress in a manner that effectively pulled the woman closer to her.

"It'll be okay", Maura said softly, "We'll find her". Her words were filled with reassurance and confidence as if she knew for sure that they would find the young girl, as if there was no doubt in her mind at all that this little girl would be found.

A slight sniffle came from the detective and Maura leant to the side to reach out so that she could grab a tissue from the box that resided on the coffee table, "It's not your fault", she whispered to the woman beside her as she handed her the soft white tissue, "He chose to take that little girl, not you".

It was as if the woman could read her mind, Jane sighed and nodded, "I know but he took Alessandra because of his obsession with me", she said as she sat up to wipe her face with the tissue that the other woman had given her.

Maura nodded, "It's still all his fault Jane, not yours", she said calmly with a hand on the woman's bicep in a reassuring motion, "You couldn't have known that he would do this".

Jane bit her lip gently before extracting the school photo of Alessandra from her pocket, "I know it isn't my fault really but I just feel partially responsible", she said softly as she looked down at the curly haired child, "I know I'm not but…".

"...you can't help how you feel", Doctor Isles said softly, completing her lover's sentence for her before pulling her into another embrace.

The female detective kept the photo in her left hand as she hugged the woman and over Maura's shoulder she could clearly see the smiling image of the missing young girl. The doll that had been found in the girl's bedroom was still sat neatly on the desk of Jane Rizzoli upstairs.

After a few moments, Jane sat back up so that she could take a sip of the water sat on the coffee table. She smiled towards Maura softly, "Thank you", she said in a whisper, referring to the unwavering support that the woman was giving her and had given her throughout their time as best friends.

Maura simply smiled in response and ran her hand gently up and down the other woman's back, leaning her head on Jane's shoulder.

"What did the lab results say?", Jane asked softly.

The doctor looked surprised as to how the detective knew then realised that the woman must have seen her speaking with the lab tech through the window, "The hair found in the vehicle matched the hair found on Alessandra's brush and in her bed", she said softly.

"Which confirms what we already knew", Jane replied, "Anything else?".

Maura nodded, "The test results show that DNA traces from the top of the bottle match the DNA present in the hair", she said softly, "Which also matches Mr and Mrs Harmon's DNA".

Jane nodded, "So she definitely drank from the water bottle and she is definitely their daughter", she said softly which resulted in another nod from Maura, "What else?".

The woman hesitated, looking down briefly at their now joined hands, "The toxicology results from the water bottle revealed traces of _Flunitrazepam_ ".

The Italian woman frowned, " _Rohypnol_?", she asked slightly confused before it hit her, that bastard had drugged her, "He drugged her?".

Maura nodded in confirmation, "Yes it does seem that way", she said softly, "Although I would obviously have to test Alessandra's bloodwork to confirm what dosage she was given exactly". "Going with my hypothesis that he won't hurt her due to his fantasy relationship with you, I believe that due to his medical training that he would be able to give her a dosage that would not be lethal and instead it would act as a muscle relaxant and sedative", the woman said as she watched the detective beside her.

"So she would have been asleep throughout the journey? Or at least after the traffic camera caught them?", Jane questioned, she always wanted answers to everything and was frustrated when she didn't get an exact response.

Doctor Isles nodded, "It is a possibility", she responded. "It is an intermediate acting benzodiazepine which would mean that it wouldn't have taken long for the drug to take effect in her system especially considering her age", Maura said professionally, "It wouldn't have taken very high levels to affect her either". "It can also be used as an anxiolytic drug which means that it would work to lower any signs of anxiety too", she said to Jane.

Jane nodded in understanding, "To keep her calm", she commented.

"Usually it's a drug that is administered as tablets and has to be prescribed but obviously you could buy them illegally", Maura stated, "For it to be in the water, he would have had to crush it into a powder form before putting it into the water".

"What…", Jane started, stumbling and pausing on her words, "What happens…". She took a deep breath before continuing her question, "What happens if he…", she paused again, taking another breath, "What happens if he gives her too much?".

"If given too much, the person would suffer from excessive sedation which would mean it would be very hard to wake the person", she said softly, as the dangers ran through her medically trained mind, "There is also a possibility that speech and movement would be impaired along with respiratory depression and… in extreme cases… death".

The last word made Jane's eyes close and she had to take a deep, calming breath, "And taking into consideration Alessandra's medical history?", she asked the woman carefully.

Maura paused, unsure as to answer but she knew she needed to and she couldn't lie even if she wanted to in order to make the detective calmer, "Considering Alessandra's health issues, she is at a higher risk of respiratory depression than what someone without a history of breathing difficulties".

That wasn't what Jane wanted to hear but she knew that it was the risk despite having no medical qualifications.

"The risk of overdose is quite low if the person administering the drug knows what they are doing and what dosage needs to be administered for different BMIs", Maura Isles said as she gently squeezed Jane's spare hand whilst Jane's left hand still held the school photo of the missing little girl. "I hypothesise that in order to keep her calm and to make it easier for himself, he would have to continuously drug her into a sedated and relaxed state", she said softly, "If done incorrectly then yes it could result in an overdose but it is more likely to cause a dependence, the longer that she is with him".

"So what you're saying is that each day she's with him, the more he drugs her and the more dependent her body is becoming on the drug?", Jane questioned, wanting to confirm the answer fully, "And that the risk of overdose increases?".

Maura Isles nodded and looked down at the photo, biting her lip, a tear slipped down her cheek at the prospect of the little girl being overdosed on the drug. She removed her hand from the detective's and reached up to her own face to brush the tear away.

Noticing the movement, the detective turned to embrace the woman tightly, "We'll find her Maur'", she said calmly, "We'll find her". She repeated her words a few times as if they were a mantra or prayer. In reality they were the pleas of desperation. They _needed_ to find her.

Maura nodded with teary eyes which matched the emotion filled ones looking back at her, the medically trained woman leant forward and pressed her lipstick covered lips to the soft lips of the detective that she had fallen in love with years previously. It was a gentle and chaste kiss which was loving and sincere.

It was a way of them both comforting and calming each other, the love that shone in each other's eyes was so bright that it was clear to anyone how much they meant to one another. They had always loved each other.

The smiles that were reserved solely for each other. The touches that grounded them and set them on fire at the same time. The glances that meant more than either had realised. The need to be close. The jealousy that one felt when the other was on a date or being flirted with. The empty feeling that they felt when they were apart. The loneliness they felt when they went to bed without the other.

They were two but they were one.

In retrospect it was obvious to them but for so long it had been unclear and each had loved the other in secret whilst fearing that such revelations would destroy the best relationship that either of them had ever had. Fear had held them back but not any longer.

Both women were sat comfortably on the sofa with their arms around each other in a comforting manner until Jane's phone rang from it's position on her hip and she was forced to pull back so that she could answer the annoying interrupting piece of technology.

"Rizzoli", she answered with a slight sigh.

Maura couldn't hear the other end of the phone call as she sat watching Jane momentarily before resting her head on the woman's shoulder gently.

Jane nodded, "Right, I'll see you in a minute", she said before disconnecting the call and kissing the top of Maura's head lovingly, "I have to go". She was reluctant to leave her girlfriend but eager to find the child, "Korsak says a witness has come in that saw Alessandra and Hoyt on I 93".

Doctor Isles smiled, "Hopefully she'll have some useful information and you can find her soon", she said softly.

The detective nodded, "Sure hope so Maur'", she responded with a smile.

Maura stood up, "I believe the next autopsy would have been prepared by now so I should go and get started", she said with a reluctant sigh.

"I can stay if you need me to Maur'?", she offered softly, intending on getting the others to deal with the questioning if she needed to support Maura.

The honey blonde Irish woman smiled sadly and shook her head, "You need to go and question the witness, I can do this Jane", she said softly, "I'll be fine, I promise".

Jane nodded, kissing the woman softly and reluctantly leaving the morgue in order to go upstairs so that she could interview the witness that had just come forward.

She found herself wondering what information that this woman had to give them. Had she actually seen Alessandra? Had she seen Hoyt? Did she see how he acted with her? Was she okay? Was she sedated? How much had this woman actually seen ?

Jane sighed heavily as she hit the button to the elevator so that she could make her way upstairs. She was hoping that it wasn't someone who stepped forward to get attention or give false information for the reward money. The amber alert was covering the whole state and Alessandra's face was covering the media whilst the reporters were pestering law enforcement for updates on the case.

 **A/N: Thank you to all the fabulous people who have added this story to their favourites and their alerts.**

 **Thank you for your reviews, 'sweetkid45'.**

 **Thank you again for your review 'luckypenguinbuddy', this story keeps writing itself and slipping away from me! This chapter was INTENDED to be the emotional effects of the children's autopsies on Maura but ended up being this so the other autopsies will be next chapter….**

 **Thank you for your review 'tashieka . conley' and so glad you agree with the flashback plan :)**

 **University is kicking up so delays are to be expected due to the assignment schedule on top of meetings and a load of other 'fun' stuff. Hopefully I will manage to updated another of my stories soon? I am finding this one the best to write so far. (I admit I do have a tendency for favouritism when it comes to writing..)**


	13. St Stephen's Day - Part VI

Doctor Maura Isles was stood in the morgue, wearing her scrubs with suitable shoes and her hair was tied back. Her gloves covered her manicured hands and she sighed heavily as she looked at her metal slab.

The case was affecting her more than she cared to admit, the fact that there was not one or even two children's bodies for her to autopsy but instead there were three. Of course she had the option to ask someone else to do it but she felt that she needed to do it herself instead.

 _Maura was stood in the hospital morgue, she knew she shouldn't have pulled strings to be there but she felt she needed to see him just one more time. She needed to see Angioletto. She needed to see Jane's son. No, she needed to see_ _ **their**_ _son._

 _She had been so excited that within Jane was a new life growing and that soon she'd be able to meet the little man. Instead she met him far sooner than she had expected. She had been so excited at the prospect of being able to help raise the boy but now she was stood in the cold morgue of the hospital basement whilst Jane slept upstairs in her hospital bed._

 _When speaking about the baby, she was never referred to as 'Maura' or 'Doctor Isles' or even 'The Chief Medical Examiner' but instead her name turned into 'Mommy' after Jane declared herself as 'Mamma' and Maura as 'Mommy'. Of course it had influenced a dramatic increase in the number of people that assumed they were a couple but neither really minded because both were too distracted with the upcoming arrival of their son. Theirs. That was something that always made the women smile._

 _Angelioletto's Mommy reached out her hand to stroke his cheek and a sob burst from her chest, she couldn't help but pick him up once more and hold him close to her. No autopsy had been deemed necessary but it was procedure to take the deceased to the morgue whether the autopsy was needed or not._

 _The child was rocked in Maura's arms slightly, as she spoke to him softly and stroked his cold cheek._

 _A friend of hers who worked as a Dean at the hospital was stood in the doorway with her hand over her mouth as she watched on. Her eyes were teary before she stepped out to give her a moment, trusting the woman to be alone and needing a moment to compose herself. Before she stepped out, the words she heard broke her heart._

" _I love you Angioletto, you'll always be our baby boy", Maura whispered broken-heartedly, "I'll never ever forget you, I just wish we had more time". Her sobs echoed in the cold room as she clung to the lifeless body of their infant son._

 _When Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of the hospital, stepped back into the room, she momentarily froze at the sight that greeted her. The woman that she had only seen as composed and professional was now collapsed on the floor, leaning back against the side of the autopsy table with the infant against her chest as she cried._

 _Lisa stepped forward, going to her friend's side to kneel down and wrap her arms around them both. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say something, anything to make it better but she knew that no words were enough to calm the heartache that this woman was feeling._

" _It's not fair", Maura said as she sobbed against the woman, "We were supposed to raise him together, we were supposed to have more time". "He was supposed to learn to sit up, to crawl, to smile, to talk", she continued, "He was should have been able to go to school, play in the park, learn how to play baseball… Jane was going to teach him you know and I was going to teach him about science or as Jane said 'science-y stuff". The memory of Jane saying that made her smile for a second until again a sob escaped from the depths of her throat, "But.. he… he didn't even get to breathe"._

 _Salty tears stung her eyes as travelled down her face but she continued to hold the grieving woman in her arms and rock ever so slightly, "I'm so sorry", Lisa said softly into Maura's hair, "I'm so so sorry". She knew that it wouldn't calm the pain but she knew there wasn't much else she could say. She knew the pain of child loss after having multiple miscarriages and one stillbirth during her attempts to conceive a child over the years._

The body of 13 year old Christian Lucas Harmon was lying on her table, he was wearing a set of _Men's Boston Red Sox Concepts Sport Charcoal National Knit Shorts_ with a plain white, sleeveless top and his feet were bare whilst his hair was slightly messed from sleep.

The autopsy examination was more straight-forward than his parents as there was only one wound rather than multiple. She determined that death had come much quicker than both of his parents, especially his mother and that he had been killed before his parents.

Maura stepped away from the autopsy table after she had completed her examination and all evidence had been handed over to her technicians. She needed a moment to compose herself whilst the next autopsy was being prepared for her to perform. She slipped into her office and took a seat.

Meanwhile upstairs, Jane was stood in the bullpen with Korsak and Frost as they had just finished interviewing the woman.

"I'm going to put a B.O.L.O out for the car that our witness says she saw", Frost said, referring to the white car that had been seen pulling away from the scene on I-93.

Jane groaned in frustration and paced in front of the board, "She said that something didn't feel right at the time", she said with annoyance in her tone of voice, "Then why didn't she do something?".

Korsak shrugged, "Most people don't because they think that someone else will step in".

"But they don't", Jane highlighted with frustration, "They rarely ever do".

The older man nodded, "I know", he agreed with a heavy sigh.

"At least now we have a description of the car that she was taken in and a witness that confirms that she saw Hoyt with Alessandra", Frost said as he typed away on his computer.

"And the description of the man who collected them both from the scene", Korsak continued as Jane wrote the various facts that they had discovered onto the board, or boards as it had now become. They had taken boards from other departments to ensure that they had all of the information they needed. Three was the total at the moment, in preparation for the autopsy results of the three children downstairs.

A phone beeped with the sound of a text message and Jane put the pen down to grab it, "I'll be back in a moment guys", she said quickly, "Korsak can you finish writing it up?".

"Doc done the autopsies already?", Korsak asked as he stood up from his desk where he hadn't long sat down.

The dark haired woman shook her head, "No, just Christian's but…", she paused not knowing if she should say something.

The aging man nodded, "I understand", he said softly, putting a hand on her bicep with a smile, "She needs you".

Jane nodded, "I'll be back soon".

She rushed towards the elevator and was impatiently waiting for it before she jumped in and begun her journey down to the morgue. Maura hadn't _asked_ her to go down there but she knew in her heart that the woman needed support. The message had simply said; ' _I have finished Christian's autopsy and conclude that he died from exsanguination however his death was much quicker than that of his parents. I will be starting Tyler's in 10 minutes.'._

Maura was sat in her office with the blinds drawn, the photo of Angioletto was sat on her desk and she traced her finger over his tiny face. "I miss you", she whispered to the framed photo despite the fact that he couldn't hear anything she said.

There were various photos on her desk, previous to meeting Jane there had never been a single photo residing on her desk but now it just seemed like the thing to do. She felt like it was the most natural thing in the world. Two of them were of Angioletto; the one that she currently had her finger running over and then one of him with both her and Jane together in the hospital.

Maura's eyes drifted over to the second photo of Angioletto and she sighed heavily, "I love you so much", she whispered with pain etched in the tones of her voice and upon her facial features.

 _When Maura returned to Jane's hospital room after visiting the morgue, Jane was still asleep in the bed. The honey blonde Medical Examiner cleaned her face in the bathroom before she sat back down on the chair and leant her head neatly upon the side of the hospital bed with her head reaching out to take Jane's._

 _By the time Jane awoke, the other woman was asleep beside her in a rather uncomfortable and unnatural looking position, "Hey", she said softly, nudging the woman gently in order to wake her._

 _The tired looking doctor raised herself slightly to make eye contact with the Detective, "Hey", she mumbled in response._

 _Jane shuffled over to the side slightly, "Come here", she said softly._

 _She didn't argue with the woman, or protest in the slightest with the request, nor did she hesitate for even a millisecond before she climbed into the bed beside her best friend and snuggled up to her side. Her head was resting on Jane's chest as she wrapped her arms around her. Both were content, wrapped in each other's arms as they returned to their dream world where their son was alive and well, still growing within the womb of the Italian Detective._

 _Only Lisa ever knew what Maura had done that day. It was only her that knew that the woman had gone to the morgue to visit their son and it was only her that knew that Maura had broken down in the morgue cradling the earthly body of their child that never had the chance to take a breath. It was also only Lisa who knew that Maura had made a donation to the hospital for extra procedures and tests in a last ditched attempt to save the life of their son. Of course, it hadn't worked. There wasn't anything that anyone could have done. He was already gone by the time that Jane made it to the hospital. It was too late._

Jane paused in the doorway to the office after carefully opening the door, she could see the tears that had made their way down the face of her girlfriend and she could see the pain that was drowning the woman's facial features along with the hand that traced the photo that she knew to be the photo of the three of them together. The last photo of the three of them together. The last time she saw her son and the what she thought was the last time that Maura had seen him too.

The autopsies of the children made Jane momentarily glad that neither of them had seen Angioletto like that. Laid out on a metal slab in a cold autopsy room, lifeless and alone. Little did she know that Maura had seen that. She had felt that pain, that shock, that heart wrenching agony.

After a short moment, she stepped forward in order to close the wooden door behind her and move further into the office. Doctor Isles looked up and hastily brushed away the tears that had made their way down her cheeks from her beautiful hazel eyes, "I thought you were interviewing your witness?", she asked softly, hoping to distract the other woman from the sight of her tears and messy make-up.

Jane nodded, "We finished, she gave us the description of the car that picked them up from I 93 along with the description of the person who was driving the vehicle", she stated as she moved to the other woman's side.

Maura nodded, "Did you get my text?", she asked, "I finished my autopsy and…".

"I know", Jane said gently, "I read your text which is why I'm down here". She knelt down on the floor, not caring as to whether or not her trousers would get dirty or not and she wrapped her arms around the Medical Examiner tightly.

She couldn't hold it in anymore, she couldn't stop the pain from seeping out as she began to cry on to her girlfriend's shoulder, clinging tightly to her with her hands clutching the material at the back of the woman's jacket.

Gradually, Jane tugged her girlfriend from the office chair and into her lap, rocking her in a calming manner. When Maura was calmed, straddling her lap in what would have been a much more pleasing position than it currently was, Jane looked at the photo that was in her girlfriend's hand, "I love that photo", she whispered softly into Maura's hair as she held her close, "That was the last time we got to hold him, or even see him". She sighed heavily, "What I wouldn't give for even a few minutes of him being alive and in our arms", she paused for a moment, "But then again, when each few minutes ended I would just want another few, then another and another… it would never end".

Maura started crying again, hiding her face against the Detective as her body wracked with tears.

"Hey", Jane said softly, extending the letter 'y' as she said it, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you cry again".

The hazel eyed woman looked up at her and shook her head, "It's not that", she said softly, hesitating before she revealed, "I went to the morgue after that photo was taken".

A look of confusion overtook the other woman's face, "But you were with me the whole time", she said to Maura, "...I went to sleep".

Maura nodded, "I'm sorry", she said softly, sobbing, "I needed to see him".

"It's okay Maur'", she said softly, again pulling her close and holding her tightly, "It's okay".

"No, I shouldn't have gone down there without your permission...I..", Maura mumbled against Jane's chest.

She didn't finish her sentence because she was interrupted, "Don't you dare finish that sentence", Jane said firmly as she pulled back slightly and cupped both of Maura's cheeks, "He was… is… your son too Maur', he always will be and you had every right to see him". She sighed heavily, "No wonder these autopsies are so hard on you", she said more to herself than to Maura, "You saw him…". Her sentence wasn't one that needed finishing, they both knew exactly what she was referring to. The cold, lifeless body of their only son lying on a table similar to the one that was now inhabiting the second child of the day.

After discovering that Maura had visited the morgue to see their son, Jane refused to leave her side throughout the remaining two autopsies. She sat by the side and every now and then would wrap her arms around the woman from behind, press a kiss to her cheek and tell her that everything would be okay. In between autopsies, she would sit in the Medical Examiner's office and hold her tightly, running her hand through her hair.

It was revealed that all three children had died in exactly the same manner and Maura was able to create a timeline for the five deaths. The children had been killed first, youngest to eldest before the father and eventually the mother after she had been chased upstairs. It was clear that she had made a last attempt to save her only remaining child. However she hadn't made it to the bedroom in time.

 **A/N: Thank you to those who have recently added this to subscription/alerts and favourited it.**

' **Guest' - I am not 'referencing' names but only using various names from various sources to create character names. If I were to reference I would name the character for example; 'Angelina Jolie', 'Nicole Kidman', 'Sasha Alexander' but instead I use names from various sources. People all over the world have the same first name or the same surname or even middle name but it isn't in reference to each other. I just take inspiration from them to create names for example; 'Anthony Weatherly' was inspired by the character 'Anthony DiNozzo' and the actor 'Michael Weatherly' whilst his wife's name 'Marie Weatherly' was inspired by 'Marie Curie' and obviously the surname being the same as the previous. When writing the names I don't often have the image of that person in mind for the actual character. Many will use name websites to find names to use but I find that there are too many options for me so I tend to search an actor or actress and use random names found on wikipedia or in the media, an example of this is the child characters used so far. 'Tyler Sean' is inspired by Sean Harmon and Sean Murray (I can't remember what inspired the name Tyler). 'Christian Lucas' is inspired by Ty Christian Harmon (I don't recall where 'Lucas' came from). 'Kelly Elyse' was inspired by Kelly Harmon, Kelly Gibbs and Elyse Knox. The name Avery (The neighbour's child in the story) was inspired by Avery Seahorn. Some names are derived from names I have seen however such as Juliana is derived from Julie which was a name inspired by Julie Finlay, and her last name was obviously inspired by Lorraine Bracco. Alessandra however was a name I chose a while back for another story on the basis that it was the Italian form of Alexandra which was inspired by the character; Alexandra Cabot because let's face it, Stephanie March is totally and utterly fabulous! The inspiration for each and every name is different, some are from characters and others actors/actresses but other names written in my plan are inspired by scientists and other random sources. None of my O.C are written to be replicas of the person whose name inspired it, especially because usually it is more than one person's name that inspired it. I am glad that you are enjoying it so far however and hope that you continue to do so.**

' **Tashieka . conley' - Thank you again for your review, I appreciate each and every one of them.**

' **Sweetkid45' - I agree with you, she does need to be brought home soon but where will home be when she does? I also agree that the death of Hoyt is something that must happen and by Jane's hands? Well we shall see ;)**


	14. New Year's Eve - Part I

It was New Year's Eve and Alessandra had been missing for a week now. Jane had barely slept, she was irritable and grumpy no matter what anyone did. Coffee offerings didn't calm her but did result in a brief smile before she gulped down the sacred liquid that was keeping her going. Food offerings didn't calm her either but they did give her the nutrients that she otherwise would have inadvertently denied herself from having. It was easy to forget to eat when she was on a case and even easier when a case involved a missing child.

The woman was pacing in front of the three boards that had been set up in the bullpen, her hand repeatedly ran through her dark curls as she groaned to herself. The only time she had gone home was to shower and change although that was on the persistence of Maura.

Maura was starting to feel the effects of her girlfriend's dedication to the case, she hadn't seen her much over the past week, in fact they hadn't spent much time together at all.

The boards were littered with photos of the little girl, although now they had the addition of the autopsy results, a photo of the make/model of the car and an e-fit description of the man who collected them from I 93.

A week. That was how long Alessandra had been missing for. A week. That was how long Alessandra had been with Hoyt for, or at least that is where they thought she was as they couldn't be certain that he hadn't handed her off to someone else but it would go against what seemed to be his aim.

Jane had barely left the bullpen; her eyes were dark, rings had formed beneath her eyes, her lips were dryer than usual, her smile was lacking and her posture slumped.

"What am I missing?", she mumbled to herself as she stared at the photos on the board, tapping the pen against her lips impatiently.

She started looking over the evidence again.

She looked at the photo that had been taken by the traffic camera.

The little girl had been taken from her bed in her pyjamas, with her stuffed toy and blanket after he had murdered her family.

She looked at the photo that CSU had taken of the truck on I 93.

Alessandra had been taken in a truck before the truck was abandoned on I 93 near a selection of stores.

She looked at the photo of the witness along with the brief information below it in bullet points.

A witness had seen a white car and was able to describe the car and give some details about the man who was driving.

She read the writing scrawled on the board on the tracking details of the white car.

The B.O.L.O had gone out on the car but the trail had gone cold as the car moved back up the coastline. They had no reason to believe that the car had crossed state lines which meant that the case remained in their jurisdiction.

She looked at the house map, the autopsy photos and the brief descriptions of the autopsy reports.

The children had died first, then the parents but Alessandra was alive.

Jane sighed heavily as she looked at the board, looking at Alessandra's photo. The smile plastered on the child's face was haunting her dreams whenever she slept. The concept of her being with him haunted her more than what he had done to her in the past. The idea that he had a child in his grip.

 _Jane awoke in bed beside her girlfriend, she sat bolt upright suddenly, gasping for breath with the word 'No' escaping from her lips. Her heartbeat was rapid, a clear sign of panic._

 _Maura sat up in the bed and wrapped her arms around the Detective silently, "Hoyt?", she asked gently as she brushed a stray curl from the other woman's face and pressed a loving kiss to her cheek._

 _The Detective nodded but didn't make any eye contact with her lover, "He had her… he", she paused before looking at Maura, "He still has her Maur', he has her and I have no idea where she is"._

" _You'll find her", the woman reassured her gently, "Now we need to get some rest and you can go back tomorrow and carry on looking okay?"._

 _The dark haired woman shook her head, "No", she said gently as she scrambled to get out of bed, "No, I can't, I have to find her"._

 _Doctor Isles sighed, "Come back to bed, it's four in the morning", she said gently as she reached out to tug her back, "Please Jane, for me?"._

" _I'm sorry Maur', I have to", she said softly before kissing Maura gently, "I'm going to drive the route that the car took after it left and see what I can see"._

 _The other woman was already tugging on her clothing and her boots, the Medical Examiner knew that any attempts to stop her were pointless, "I love you", she said softly, reaching out for her._

" _I love you too Maur'", she said with a soft smile before she knelt on the bed to kiss Maura deeply, "Now go back to sleep, get some rest and I'll see you at the station later"._

 _Maura could do nothing but nod silently and watch as her lover left the bedroom before listening to her unmarked department issued vehicle leave the street._

 _She lay in silence, staring at the ceiling but sleep never came._

Detective Rizzoli looked briefly towards her desk where the little girl's desk was currently sitting, she was taking the doll everywhere with her on the chance that she could return it to the child. She took it home with her in case she got a call in the middle of the night with the child's location. She took it with her down to the morgue in case she had a call and didn't have time to go back to her desk. She had it sat in her car if she went anywhere. Just in case.

 _Jane drove along I 93 as the sun began to rise, she slid her sunglasses onto her face as the sun started to irritate her eyes and she sighed heavily. She was tired but couldn't sleep knowing that the little girl was missing but even worse, she was with Hoyt. The man who had caused so many sleepless nights and screaming night terrors in the past. The man who had killed multiple people throughout his life time. The man who had killed an entire family including three children. The man who had kidnapped and drugged a young girl._

 _She looked over at the passenger seat, the only one there was the china doll. It was sat neatly with the belt on it so that it wouldn't fall from the seat during the drive. The clothing was still clean and it was in the same condition as it had been when it was sat in the girl's bedroom._

 _Three days. That was how long it had been since the little girl had gone missing, since her parents and siblings had been murdered in her family home. Three days._

" _It would be easier if you could talk", she partially mumbled towards the doll, "Maybe you could tell me what happened that night with Alessandra?"._

 _She groaned after a moment, "I'm going insane", she commented to herself, "I'm talking to a freaking doll". She shook her head and sighed as she travelled in the same path that had been mapped out by the traffic cameras that had seen the car._

 _Jane stopped her car at the side of the road where the traces had ended. There wasn't anything there though but she knew that when she started driving. Instead she continued on, driving in the general direction._

She launched the pen across the room that she had previously been holding in her hand and groaned in pure frustration and anger at the fact that the case wasn't solved yet, and the little girl wasn't home yet. Correction; the little girl wasn't safely in _her_ arms yet.

As the pen rolled away from her, she suddenly froze, "That's it", she muttered to herself before grabbing a map to pin it to a fourth board.

On the board she used one pin to point out the home, another to highlight the scene where the car was found and another series of pins to indicate which cameras had caught the truck and car so that she could see the path clearly on the map.

Jane then began to look closer at what areas were on the map, close to where the car was last seen.

The woman then began to use an alternate coloured pin, in order to mark out places of interest that she intended on searching. She marked various warehouses and abandoned factories along with anything else she recognised as abandoned, empty or easy to hide in.

When she finished putting pins into the map it appeared as if she had created one of the most unusual pieces of pin art possible. It was a mess. She had a lot of places to search.

She wanted to tell her team about the map and what she was doing but they weren't there. Most of all though she wanted to tell Maura but again she wasn't there. They were all at the Dirty Robber where they were celebrating New Year's Eve. She herself was meant to go, but instead she was in her office working. The case was frustrating her. It was something that she wasn't finding easy to solve and that annoyed her. She liked to know the solution to problems and when she didn't, she was far from happy.

" _Please Jane", Maura begged, "Please just come for a couple of drinks". Her bottom lip went out and her eyes watered, "Please Jane?", she said softly, "For me?"._

 _Jane sighed, "Fine", she said eventually, "But I'm going to be late, I'll get there for 10"._

" _10", Maura confirmed, "Promise?". Her head was tilted in an adorable manner as she asked._

 _The woman nodded, "I promise Maur'", she said softly as she pulled her into her arms and pressed a kiss to her head but kept her eyes on the board in front of them._

She knew she had some making up to do with her girlfriend as she had been neglecting the woman a lot lately but she was so overwhelmed with the case that she was working on that she couldn't focus on anything else. She had trouble doing anything and when she did do something, it always led back to the case. She would get distracted. Her mind would wander. She would start to wonder.

 _She had gotten up to take Jo Friday for a walk so that the canine could relieve herself on something other than the woman's clothing or floor. Jane sat on the bench, letting the leash extend so that the dog could wander a little._

 _Jane looked at the park, sighing heavily as she looked at the empty swings. Her mind went to Alessandra. Did she enjoy going to the park? If so, did she like the swings? Or did she prefer the slide? Or maybe she preferred the roundabout? Had she gone to this park with her family before she was taken? Was she somewhere outside right now? Was she in the cold winter weather? Did she have enough clothing on to keep her warm? Was she in a place where she was able to go to a park? The questions were driving her crazy, and she groaned in frustration - something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately. The little girl had been missing for four days and all Jane wanted was to find her. Actually, that wasn't exactly true because to be precise she not only wanted to find her but she wanted to find her, bring her home and keep her._

 **A/N: 'sweetkid45' I most definitely** _ **do**_ **agree with your views on the story ;) More than I will reveal right now :P**

' **Luckypenguinbuddy' - I wasn't ready for the autopsies either for chapter 12, apparently my brain had other ideas! That is very lucky! :) I am glad that you are enjoying it! I didn't want to focus on the details of the autopsies which is why I gave a very very brief description but focused on Maura. I ended up writing more about Angioletto than I had originally planned to but hopefully it came out alright.**

' **Tashieka . conley' - Yes, that he does! 10000%!**

 **Thank you to the new subscribers :) and the new people who have added this to their favourites! You are fabulous!**

 **Next: New Year's Eve Part II - The Dirty Robber**


	15. New Year's Eve - Part II

The 'Dirty Robber' was decorated for the night, people were filling the bar gradually and sat in their usual spot was Frost, Korsak, Frankie and Maura. They were waiting for Jane, it was now 10:30pm, half an hour later than what Jane had promised. The men were laughing, joking and messing around as they consumed their beers but Maura was sat in the corner of the booth, her head was down, her smile upside down and she continuously found herself checking the front door whenever she heard someone walk into the establishment.

"She'll be here soon", Frankie said reassuringly towards the honey blonde Medical Examiner as he placed his hand on top of hers gently in order to get her attention away from the door. The door where superwoman, a chicken, little bo peep and the hulk just walked in.

"Maybe we should've come in fancy dress?", Frost suggested with a grin towards the guys.

Korsak chuckled, "Can you imagine Jane coming in wearing that bo peep costume?", he questioned, clearly finding the concept highly amusing.

The others laughed softly at that although Maura simply smiled, "Maybe next year", Frankie said with a grin.

Maura shook her head, "Jane would never willingly wear that".

"Not the costume Doctor Isles", Frankie said with a smile, "I mean in general… next year… all of us should go in fancy dress".

"Oh", Maura said, understanding his comment now, "That does sound like it could be fun".

The door chimed and she spun instantly round in her seat to see who it was, almost spilling her wine, her posture went straight and she seemed to perk up at the sight of dark hair but upon seeing that it wasn't the dark haired Italian Detective that she was hoping it would be, her posture instantly deflated and so did her smile.

"Why don't you try calling her Doc?", Korsak suggested.

"I have sent her multiple texts but they haven't been read", she said softly, looking at her phone on the table and the multiple messages on the screen.

 _21:30 'Are you still coming tonight?'_

 _22:03 'Jane?'_

 _22:05 'Where are you?'_

 _22:15 'Please Jane, You promised you'd be here for 10'_

 _22:20 'Jane?'_

 _22:28 '?'_

"Call her", Frost reiterated with a smile, nudging the phone closer to the woman.

Maura smiled and nodded, "Excuse me", she said softly towards Frankie who then stepped out of the booth for her so that she could exit. "I'll be back in a moment", she said politely before leaving the bar through the front door so that it would be much quieter for when she phoned Jane.

Korsak sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face, "Ya know if Janie doesn't answer, how about we take the Doc over to see her instead?", he asked looking at the other men whilst they watched the well dressed woman pace outside of the bar.

Frankie and Frost both nodded, "If she doesn't come to the party then the party will go to her", the latter said before taking a sip of his beer.

"We will need to pick up some beer on route though", Frankie said, waving his bottle slightly to highlight his point.

"And snacks", Korsak added.

Frost nodded, "And we can't forget wine for the Doc", he said briefly pointing to the window where they could see the woman becoming frustrated.

"Come on", Korsak said standing up, grabbing his jacket, "Let's go".

The two men stood up, swigging the last remnants of their beers although Frost left about a third of his still in the bottle. Frankie picked up Maura's jacket and her purse.

"Suits you", Korsak said with a smirk to Frankie.

Jokingly Frankie then posed with it, pouting and popping his hip to the side, "Don't I look fabulous".

The men burst out laughing before making their way to the door, they were met with a stressed and worried looking Chief Medical Examiner who again was pressing the phone to her ear, muttering things such as ' _Please pick up Jane'._

 _Jane was stood in front of the board, one hand on her hip and the other up against her mouth as she examined the contents along with the multi coloured pins that she had stabbed into the map. Her phone was in her jacket pocket, it had been on silent for a meeting and she had simply forgotten to take it off of silent when she came out._

"Where are you going?", Maura said worriedly as she looked at the three men standing in front of her, "I'm sure Jane will be here soon".

Frankie smiled and nodded, "Figured we'd take the party to her", he said gently resulting in Maura's face lighting up instantly, the first real smile that she had shown all night.

"We're going to grab beer on the way", Frost said with a smile, as they moved towards his unmarked car.

"And snacks", Korsak added, "and don't worry Doc we intend on picking up some wine too".

"Although it's probably best that you choose which ones you'd like", Frankie said to her.

Frost opened the front passenger door for her and bowed jokingly, "My lady", he said mimicking a posh English butler.

Maura laughed and in return curtseyed, "Why, thank you, kind sir", she said in much the same manner, before sitting down in the seat as everyone began to laugh. The Medical Examiner text Jane to say that they were on their way to the precinct instead so that Jane wouldn't go to the bar to meet them.

Frost jumped into the driver's seat whilst Korsak and Frankie got into the back seat, it had been decided in the bar that Frost would drive because he hadn't had as much to drink, in fact he had purposely not drunk that much because he had a feeling that Jane wouldn't turn up.

They drove to the liquor store, music playing in the background as they discussed random topics. Maura had relaxed a little bit at the prospect of going to see the woman she loved but hadn't calmed completely.

Whilst at the store they picked up a range of beers including Jane's favourite, they also picked up two different brands of wine along with a few random alcoholic beverages that they could do shots with such as; _Sambuca_ , _Absolut Pears Vodka_ and _Roberto Cavalli Plain Vodka_.

"Doctor Isles?", Frost said softly as he stepped towards the woman who was currently paying, she had refused his money and chose to pay for the alcohol herself, "It will be okay".

She looked momentarily confused, her head tilted as she processed what he was saying.

"I mean with Jane", he clarified for her, "Everything will be okay". "She'll find Alessandra", he had previously called her 'the girl' but people seemed to have their heads metaphorically bitten off when they did that and so her name was usually required when speaking, "and then everything will be okay, she'll back down from her work for a while".

Maura nodded, thinking about it for a moment, "She's not going to let Alessandra go when she finds her is she?", she said softly looking at the man in front of her, it was a statement but also a question as she wanted his opinion.

Frost looked away before back at her, "No", he said simply, "I don't think she will".

Doctor Isles nodded, "Will they let Jane keep her?".

"I don't see why not, the kid…I mean Alessandra has no living relatives", he confirmed despite her knowing that information, "So it is likely that they'll let her if she asks to keep her".

"I think you mean _when_ rather than _if_ Detective", Maura said with a smile.

During the time that Frost and Maura were in the liquor store, Frankie and Korsak were in the store next door where they picked up a multitude of snacks, candies and a few soft drinks.

Detective Rizzoli looked over at Korsak as the man was picking up pork scratchings, "She's gunnah be okay right?", he asked with concern.

"You mean the Doc?", Korsak questioned, "Sure as soon as she sees Janie, she'll be fine".

"No I meant Janie", he clarified, "The case it seems to have…"

"Taken over?", Korsak finished, "Yeah that'll happen sometimes, you'll get a case and it will really bug you until you find the answers". "When it comes to Hoyt… well I don't need to explain that to you", he said as he straightened up, looking at the younger man, "But now it involves a little girl and she ain't gunnah stop until she finds little Allie".

'Allie' had been the nickname that had been revealed by a neighbour during an interview, although only a handful of people had apparently been able to call her it. "She'll be fine when that little girl is safe in her arms", Korsak said with a smile.

"She really isn't going to let the kid out of her sight is she?", Frankie said shaking his head.

Korsak shrugged, "Child Services would have one hell of a fight on their hands if they tell Janie that she can't take Allie home".

Frankie made sure that he grabbed some Fudge Clusters as Jane had once told him that Maura was fond of them and he thought it might be a good way to cheer the woman up, he didn't however plan to give them to her himself.

 _Frankie perched himself on the edge of his sister's desk, "I need your help", he declared quietly as he sat down._

" _No", she instantly with a smirk, "Okay, what's up?"._

" _I got Maria flowers and I wanted to get her candy too but what type should I get?", he asked glancing around the bullpen._

" _Candy?", she questioned to which he nodded in response, "I'd go with Fudge Clusters"._

" _Really?", Frankie asked._

" _Yep!", she said making a slight popping sound with the last letter, "Maura loves them"._

" _Cheers Sis", he said to her…._

Once their shopping trips were complete, they met back at the car with their bags and put the shopping in the trunk of the car before climbing back into their seats and strapping themselves in.

Maura checked her phone again. There were no missed calls or unread messages from Jane. Looking at the screen, she knew that the messages she had sent her lover hadn't even been opened by the Detective yet. She sighed and watched the road as Frost drove them to the precinct.

Frost parked the car in the parking garage of the precinct, in his usual parking space and each of the car's occupants got out, grabbing bags before they made their way towards the bullpen.

The men stepped back to allow Maura to enter the bullpen first, as she stepped into the room she saw Jane standing in front of multiple boards, each of the boards were littered with maps, pins, photos, notes and results. She had taken her jacket off and it was hanging on the back of her desk chair. Her hand was on her hip, the other beneath her chin.

The moment she noticed Maura was there, she looked confused, "I thought that I was…", she noticed the time on the clock behind the honey blonde, "Oh I am so sorry". The dark haired woman moved forward quickly and wrapped her arms around the Doctor, "I am so sorry Maur', I got caught up with the case". She waved her arm to indicate the board.

"I forgive you", was all that Maura whispered before capturing the woman's lips in a searing kiss as they pulled each other closer.

The three men moved into the room, setting up the drinks on the desks after clearing a space for them along with the snacks.

After a few minutes, Frankie pulled Jane to the side and gave her the fudge clusters, "Thought you might need them", he said tossing his head slightly towards the Medical Examiner who was now being served a glass of wine as Maura had thought in advance to pick up some disposable glasses from the liquor store.

"Thanks", Jane said softly to him, patting his back once, gently and briefly with one hand.

Jane wrapped her arms around her lover as soon as she was close enough to do so, "I really am sorry", she said softly as she handed over the candy.

"I know", she said softly, putting her plastic wine glass down to turn in the woman's arms, "and thank you for these". She kissed the woman softly yet deeply, "I should thank your brother too, seeing as I know he was the one that got them…".

"Just as long as you don't thank him in the same way you just did me then we'll be okay", she said jokingly before kissing the woman again.

 **A/N: Apologies for the long delay in updating this story, it has been a 'little hectic' here with so many things going on… La Vida Loca!**

' **Sweetkid45' - Thank you for your continuous reviewing!**

' **Luckypenguinbuddy' and 'Tashieka . conley' - I agree with you both, she definitely does need to step back, but will she be able to?**

' **Guest' - I agree with that but at this point the concept of him wanting a family with her is nothing but a theory, they don't know for certain what is going on until they can manage to question him.**

' **Penny 3' - I will do… eventually… there is about 35 chapters sketched out, I just have to write it all up but I should have a little more time now that my classes are almost over for this academic year.**

 **Next: New Year's Eve III - Precinct 'Party'**


	16. New Year's Eve - Part III

For a while it was fine. Jane had sat down at her desk and pulled Maura into her lap, holding her close to her and taking part in the group conversation but after a while her attention was increasingly moving towards the boards in the room. It started out with the occasional glance but that turned into blanking out for a minute or two at a time as she stared at it. By the time midnight approached, Maura was more than a little inebriated and Jane had spent the majority of the time staring at the board instead of the stunning woman in her lap. She hadn't noticed the level of alcohol the woman had consumed despite attempts from their friends.

The countdown started and Jane smiled wrapping her arms around Maura tightly.

 _10…_

Maura glared at the woman whose lap she sat in.

 _...9…_

Yes Jane had been there but she hadn't truly **been** there as her mind had been on the case instead of the makeshift party that they had brought to her.

 _...8…_

The countdown was enthusiastic.

 _...7…_

The group of friends were highly intoxicated.

 _...6…_

Some of the other members had joined them for the countdown as unlike the homicide team, they were there because they had to be.

 _...5…_

Jane cupped Maura's cheek, smiling happily.

 _...4…_

Maura turned in the way that the Detective was guiding her head. It was clear she was unhappy.

 _...3…_

"What's wrong?", Jane asked softly, wanting to kiss the woman on the strike of midnight.

 _...2…_

"Really Jane?", Maura asked in disbelief, "You ignore me all night and now you ask me what's wrong?"

 _...1…_

Jane's face dropped in shock as she realised what she had done, she looked at her inebriated lover and then at the boards before back but any answer she was going to give was halted by the cheers of people ringing in the new year along with the hot honey blonde woman getting up from her lap.

As the drunken woman stormed out, the Detective quickly followed her. Jane's hand was reaching out in a desperate plea, "I'm sorry Maur', I really am", she said softly as they reached the elevators.

Maura said nothing but she didn't turn around either. She was angry at Jane for ignoring her but deep down she understood. The part that was mad at her however won out in that moment and she moved towards the staircase in order to skip the wait for the elevator.

"Please Maur', I really am sorry", she said softly as she went to follow.

The Chief Medical Examiner stumbled slightly in her high heeled designer shoes and Jane's arms snaked out quickly to grab her waist, pulling the woman close to her and away from the staircase. Maura was shaking slightly, having almost fallen down the stairs in her intoxicated state.

Jane sighed and bent down slightly, she had only had two beers so she was still sober. She slipped her arms beneath the Medical Examiner's knees and back in order to lift her up in a bridal style carry, "Let's get you home", she said softly to her lover.

Maura squirmed in her arms, "I can walk", she said with an annoyed tone of voice.

"I know", the Detective stated simply, "You demonstrated that shortly before showing me how you can do somersaults down the precinct staircase".

"Put me down", the medically trained woman demanded in a firm but slightly slurred voice.

Jane raised her eyebrow at her as she stepped into the elevator still holding her, "No", was her only answer before pressing the button to go to the correct floor.

"Put me down", she slurred as she weakly smacked the Detective's shoulder, "Put me down so I can go home and you...you can go back to the case…'cause we both know that's what you'd rather do".

Jane looked at her and bit her lip, "No Maur', you're wrong, okay?", she said softly, "I'm coming home with you because _that_ is what I'd rather do".

"Don't lie to me Jane", Maura said softly with tear filled eyes.

"How much did you drink?", Jane mumbled as she carried the woman to the car.

Maura Isles glared at her, "Not enough", she stated simply.

Jane carefully put her down in order to click the button on her keys which would open the door for them before she guided the woman to sit in the passenger seat and knelt down in front of her, "Look Maur', I know it may not have seemed this way tonight but I love you".

She spoke softly, cupping the drunken woman's cheek gently, "I love you so much and I am so sorry for tonight". She leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to Maura's lips, or at least tried because at the last minute, Maura turned her head to offer her cheek instead.

Detective Rizzoli sighed, "I know you might not believe me but…", she paused momentarily, "I was really looking forward to tonight because it was going to be our first new years together and I'd finally get to do what I have wanted to do for years".

Maura looked up, her mascara tainting her cheeks and her glistening eyes focusing on the bowed head of the Detective, "Which was?".

Jane bit her lip before looking up at the other woman, "To kiss you on the stroke of midnight and to see the new year in with the most beautiful woman in the world", she said softly as she gazed into her eyes and stroked her cheek gently.

"You could have done that", Maura said in a whisper to the woman who was kneeling beside the car, "You could have done that tonight but..but you chose the case instead".

The curly haired woman nodded, "I know and I am so so so sorry for that Maur', it's just this case it's so…".

As she watched the woman she loved frustratingly run her hand through her mass of hair, she sighed, "I know", she said lovingly as she took her hand in hers, "I know and I do understand but…".

"Tonight should have been for us", Jane finished.

Maura nodded in agreement, "Yeah".

"I'll make it up to you", Jane said before she pressed a slightly elongated kiss to the other woman's forehead, "I promise you Maur', I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you… even if we have to have our own new years".

The honey blonde Medical Examiner smiled and nodded, "Take me home Jane".

Jane helped Maura sit properly in her seat rather than hanging out of the side of the car and in a caring gesture, strapped the woman into the seat before placing a soft kiss to her head, "I love you", she whispered to the highly intoxicated woman.

"I love you too Jane", Maura mumbled to her as she began to snuggle into the jacket that Jane was placing onto her as a blanket.

By the time that she had gotten into the car and driven out of the parking garage, the woman in the passenger seat was fast asleep although snuggled into Jane's jacket and with Jane's hand on her thigh, linked with hers.

Every time they stopped at a red light, the driver would find her attention turned towards the beauty that slept in her passenger seat.

When Jane pulled up at Maura's Beacon Hill home, she stopped the car and put the keys into her pocket before moving around to the other side of the car to open the door for the other woman. Instead of waking her, she knelt down beside the car and silently unstrapped her from the car. She then then sat down on the edge of the car beside the seat, or perched herself as it was so narrow. "I love you so much", she whispered to the sleeping woman, as she brushed hair from the Doctor's face, "I promise you I will do everything in my power to show you how much".

Carefully she lifted the woman up in the same manner that she had previously at the precinct and carried her towards the door. When she got to the door, she balanced the woman in her arms with great caution as she flicked the button to lock the car and pulled out the keys to do the house so that she could unlock it.

Once inside she closed the door behind them as quietly as possible before carrying Maura upstairs to the bedroom and she lay her down carefully on the bed.

After changing Maura's clothes into pyjamas, neatly folding the woman's designer clothing and placing it onto the dresser and also changing her own clothes for pyjamas (although her clothing from the day was not as neatly folded…).

Jane then went and got a bottle of water from the fridge and a glass along with a packet of painkillers, both of which she placed on the bedside table before brushing her teeth and climbing into bed.

She didn't hesitate in wrapping the honey blonde woman in her arms and holding her close to her, pulling up the blankets and kissing the woman's head gently, "I love you so much Maura", she whispered lovingly to the woman beside her, "I don't think I'll ever be able to put into words what you mean to me". Jane sighed softly as Maura snuggled in against her more and tightened her arms around the Detective's waist. "I sure am going to do my best to try and show you though", she said softly, kissing the top of Maura's head, "I promise you that I'll do everything I can to show you how much I love you", she promised the sleeping woman in her arms.

 **A/N: Apologies everyone, I have suffered a minor… block in my writing but am getting back into it and being on summer break, I should have more time to write. Sorry it's only a short one but the next should be much longer (I'm aiming for maybe 3-4 times this? And lots of fluff!).**

' **Sweetkid45' thank you again for your review!**

' **Brook Adams' thank you for both of your reviews! I am glad that you're enjoying it and hope that you continue to do so.**

' **Luckypenguinbuddy' Thank you again for your review! I am sorry for the wait but there shouldn't be too long between updates now (or at least I HOPE not).**


	17. New Year's Day

The following morning Jane awoke to a beautiful sight; Maura was fast asleep beside her with her hair creating an almost golden halo as the sun shone through the gap that had been left in the curtain which formed an angelic glow to surround the Medical Examiner.

Jane sighed heavily as she remembered the events of the previous night, she reached out and touched the other woman's cheek, knowing that 'Hungover Maura' was a deeper sleeper than 'Normal Maura'. "I'm so sorry Maur', I took you for granted last night", she said softly, "I never meant to ignore you, I never meant to hurt you".

Maura mumbled in her sleep and shifted even closer to Jane in her sleep.

Jane continued, "I promise you", she said in a hushed whisper, "I promise you that I will make it up to you". She leant forward and pressed a feather light kiss to the woman's forehead, "I don't deserve you Maur', you are the most amazing person in the world". "I need to find a way to show you that you are at the centre of my world...no scrap that", she said, pausing briefly as she took in the sight of the woman beside her, "You **are** my world".

The dark haired Detective reluctantly climbed out of the warm bed and away from her lover in order to make a start on her plan to show Maura how much she meant to her.

The Italian woman rubbed her eyes tiredly before carefully extracting herself from beneath Maura and the warm, cosy covers. Jane smiled looking at the sleeping woman in the bed, she momentarily thought to herself how lucky she was to have the medical examiner in her life and by her side throughout the good and the bad times.

Gradually pulling herself away from the sight of the beautiful woman who was sleeping peacefully, Jane Rizzoli quietly made her way down the carpeted staircase in order to make her way towards the kitchen.

Her first task was to pull out a lap tray that had legs beneath it which was perfect for breakfast in bed as it meant that the tray was held up off of the person's legs and away from the expensive material of Maura's duvet covers. The tray had been a part of Jane's birthday present to Maura the previous year when Jane decided that she was going to sneak into Maura's house using the 'emergency' key so that she could make the woman breakfast in bed.

The second task was to arrange the items that would go onto the tray which soon consisted of a glass of freshly filtered water with ice cubes floating in it with a jug beside it containing the same. Accompanying the water were painkillers (Jane knew from previous experience that Maura would have a sore head when she woke up).

Jane herself had eaten a bowl of her favourite sugar filled cereal whilst she prepared the surprise for her sleeping beauty that lay sound asleep in the bedroom above her.

Whilst the bread was toasting beneath the grill, the dark haired woman ventured outside into the back garden whilst still in only her tank top and shorts in order to collect a rose from the garden's flower bed. Carefully she chose a singular red rose to symbolise her love for the woman who had stolen her heart. She trimmed it off and took it inside in order to put it into a small, thin crystal vase with a small bit of water before placing it gently on the lap tray.

Jane then quickly put Bass' food down so that he would have breakfast when he decided that he wanted to eat and she made sure to put down extra strawberries for him.

The tray soon had a small plate on it with some toast on it which only had a very slight spreading of butter on it and a small fresh fruit salad beside it, which were all of course healthy and organic.

Detective Jane Rizzoli then picked up the tray and went upstairs to rejoin her sleeping lover in the master bedroom. She stopped in the doorway in order to again take in the beauty that lay in the bed, Maura was laying in her front with her hair spread out with one arm in front of her as she faced the doorway and one arm somewhere slightly behind her. She had been helped into nightwear the night before by the Detective which was a simple night dress although that had risen up to her waist by morning. It was an emerald green silk with white lace trim made by a designer company that Jane didn't even want to attempt to pronounce.

Carefully, she placed the tray onto the top of the cabinet before she moved towards the bed and sat down on the edge. The Detective reached out and moved a stray hair out of the way of the other woman's face before she pressed a soft kiss to her lips, "Maur'", she whispered gently. Jane reached out again and gently she moved Maura onto her back, "Maura", she said again with a loving tone of voice.

Gradually the Medical Examiner's eyes fluttered open in order for her to look at the dark haired woman, "Mmm…", she mumbled, "Morning".

The curly haired woman couldn't resist and she leant forward to press her lips to the other woman's with a soft and gentle yet rather brief kiss, "Good Morning Beautiful", she said with a small smile.

"I'm still mad at you", she said with a slight glare although it wasn't quite there because deep down she understood and also her head was far too sore for her to stay mad.

"I know", Jane said in a very soft whisper, "I know you are and you have every right to because last night I was an idiot". "I took you for granted and I shouldn't have", the woman continued, "I should have spent every moment last night with you, focusing on you so I am going to make it up to you starting with breakfast".

Maura groaned, "I'm not sure I can face any food right now Jane".

Jane nodded, "That is why I chose toast with a small fruit salad", she said with a smile as she got up and picked up the tray before carrying it to the bed. She placed it so that it was over Maura's lap, after the woman had sat herself up.

The honey blonde woman's hands were on her head and it was clear that the woman was suffering from head pain, "I also have fresh water and painkillers for your head", the woman said with a sympathetic smile. Jane felt terrible for not just ignoring the woman the previous night but also for not realising how much alcohol she had consumed.

Jane popped out a couple of the painkillers in order to hand them to the woman before holding out the small glass of ice cold water. Maura took the tablets and then took a swig of the water before smiling at Jane, "Thank you", she said softly to her.

Leaning forward slightly, Jane pressed a loving and gentle kiss to Maura's forehead, "Eat this", she instructed kindly. "When I had a hangover, there was this really intelligent woman… who happens to be a doctor you know? Top of her field and everything", she exclaimed although in a hushed tone, "She told me that this would help me feel better and what do you know? It did".

Maura smiled, amused at the woman's antics, "She sounds like quite an intelligent woman", she commented with a slight smirk on her face.

"She sure is", Jane said with a proud smile, "The most intelligent woman I know and the most beautiful too…".

"Should I be jealous?", Maura said with a smirk still painted on her face.

"Hmmm…", Jane hummed before putting her hand onto Maura's cheek and cupping it gently. "You have nothing to be jealous of Maur' and never will because you…", she said softly before pausing, "You are my entire world and I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love another person". She pressed a soft kiss to the other woman's lips, "I love you Maura Isles and I always will", she said softly, "Always and forever".

Maura's eyes sparkled with unshed tears and her lips burst into a bright smile, "I love you too Jane Rizzoli", she said softly, "Always and forever".

"One day", Jane said softly with her hand still resting on the soft cheek of her lover, "One day I hope to be able to call you Maura Rizzoli or maybe Rizzoli-Isles or Isles-Rizzoli". Her voice was soft and it was clear that she was imagining what it would be like.

Maura reached forward and pressed a soft kiss to Jane's lips, "Rizzoli", she replied softly, "Mrs Maura Rizzoli".

Jane smiled brightly and kissed her again, "I like it", she said softly with love and adoration filling her eyes.

"I don't like it", Maura replied causing Jane's smile to falter before the Medical Examiner continued, "I love it".

The Detective's face broke into a huge grin and she kissed her lovingly which turned into a much deeper kiss, "Now eat up and you'll feel better", she said softly, "I thought we could spend the day in bed, in our pyjamas watching _Netflix_ and eating junk food".

"That sounds wonderful", Maura said with a smile, taking hold of Jane's hand, "Have you eaten?".

Jane nodded, squeezing Maura's hand, "I ate before I came up", she said simply as she moved to sit beside her lover and to grab the remote from the bedside table. Maura took a bite of her cooling toast.

Her left arm reached up and went behind Maura in order to wrap around the woman's shoulders whilst the right arm held the remote to turn on the television. As the screen was starting to turn on, Jane turned and pressed a kiss to Maura's cheek, "You are so beautiful", she whispered softly to her.

Maura laughed gently, "I must look dreadful Jane", she said with a shake of her head.

Jane leant forward and pressed her lips firmly against Maura's, "Nonsense", she said without hesitation, "You are the most beautiful woman in the world".

The Medical Examiner's eyebrow shot up, "I didn't take off my make-up last night or shower or anything", she said looking at Jane.

"Doesn't matter", Jane said with an air of confidence, "You will always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me". Gently she cupped her cheek and kissed her softly.

The Detective leant her cheek on the top of the other woman's head as she started to flick through the television options in order to reach _Netflix_ whilst Maura at her now cooled toast although she only had a few bites of it before switching to her fruit salad. She found herself quite enjoying the fruit salad that Jane had prepared for her.

With a few clicks of the remote, Jane had opted to watch Maura's favourite movie which of course had brought a smile to the Medical Examiner's face.

Once Maura had finished eating her breakfast, Jane reached out and moved the tray out of the way in order to place it back on the top of the cabinet before returning to her place beside her lover. Jane's arms wrapped around Maura and pulled her close. The smaller woman curled up to her side, rested her head on Jane's chest and wrapped her arms around her waist comfortably.

Together they watched the movie, comfortable in each other's embrace as the love radiated from the both of them.

 **A/N: Apologies for the CRAZY wait for a new chapter, things have been a little hectic and I simply haven't had a chance but I hope to be able to write more…**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for the review. I agree, balancing both is definitely hard and hopefully I am able to portray that struggle well enough. There will be ups and downs but ultimately they are perfect for each other.**

 **KSHAY89 - Thank you for your review. I agree, she messed up but hopefully this can redeem her a little.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review. I can assure you that Hoyt will definitely get what he deserves and that little girl will be safe.**

 **Tashieka . conley - Thank you for the review. I am glad that you liked the chapter and I hope you liked this one too.**

 **Ojoyd - I totally loved your review, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the chapter.**

 **Wigtmh - Thank you for reviewing (and reminding me to update as everything seemed to have slipped away and grown a little hectic), I hope you enjoyed the update. I hope to update a little more regularly…**


	18. Six Months

Six months.

Six months of worry.

Six months of stress.

Six months of a strained relationship.

Six months of leads that lead to dead ends.

Six months of investigation.

In ten days the little girl would have been missing for precisely six months. Two months into the investigation the file was put onto the cold case pile and many had presumed her to be dead. Jane however didn't take that as an answer, whilst some thought they were recovering a body she repeatedly said that her 'gut' knew she was alive.

Jane Rizzoli's relationship with Maura Isles had been strained throughout the process of the investigation but the Italian woman was making a conscious effort in paying attention to the other woman and making romantic gestures.

Five months ago they had moved in together.

 _Jane and Maura lay together in bed, both were on their sides with Jane behind Maura and their hands were linked in front of them._

 _The Medical Examiner rolled over in order to face her lover, Jane kept her arms around the woman and pulled her closer to her so that their bodies were pressed together._

 _Maura's hand reached up and softly cupped the other woman's cheek, "I love you", she said lovingly, her eyes shining with pure love and adoration whilst a smile graced her lips._

 _The dark haired Italian woman smiled happily and leant forward to press a light kiss to her lips before responding, "I love you too Maur'"._

" _I want to wake up like this every day for the rest of our lives", Dr Isles said as she looked into the other woman's eyes._

 _Jane nodded in agreement, "That sounds perfect", she commented with a smile before pressing another kiss to her lips again._

" _We could", Maura said softly with slight nervousness in her voice, "If you want that is…"._

 _Slightly confused as she looked towards the other woman lying opposite her, "What do you mean Maur'?", she asked as she held her close to her._

" _I…", Maura glanced down before continuing, using her fingers to twirl a piece of the dark haired woman's hair that was lying on the bed sheets, "I was thinking that you could move in"._

" _I would love to", Jane responded in a heartbeat without hesitation._

 _Hazel eyes met Jane's as Maura's head shot up, "Really?", she asked with slight shock along with excitement._

 _Jane nodded with a huge smile on her face, "Of course", she said softly before kissing her lover passionately, "I love you Maur' and I would love to wake up like this every single morning with you for the rest of our lives"._

 _The passion increased as Maura moved to straddle the detective, skin on skin and lips on lips…_

It took them a week before they began to move Jane's belongings into Maura's home because Jane was following up the leads on the Harmon case but also two murders had been committed outside of the courthouse which had the homicide team running around like headless chickens and stressed beyond comprehension. Jane's clothing had gradually been moved into the space in Maura's closet and Jo Friday had moved in before they managed to move Jane in officially.

Jane's apartment remained as hers, her tenancy agreement hadn't finished and so she still had the right to remain. She now used it however as her space away from work and home. It was where she continued her research on the Harmon case.

The wall which was now clear from family photos and any other framed products was now covered with crime scene photos, autopsy photos, autopsy results, information on Hoyt, information on the family, the witness reports, evidence photos and everything else that she had from the process of the investigation.

The living room still had her sofa inside of it but the television had gone and was now at Maura's. The coffee table remained in front of it and had an open case file sat on top of it along with an open pizza box, cup of coffee and a notebook along with three pens.

The bathroom was empty apart from toilet roll and a few cleaners. They had purposely removed the bathing products so that Jane couldn't stay there but that had been the Detective's idea.

Her bedroom was now empty with the majority of the furniture being donated to goodwill as they didn't need it at Maura's home which was now _their_ home. Her personal items and clothing had of course been moved to Maura's.

Jane's kitchen had not been altered although the fridge had been unplugged and the only item used was now the kettle along with the toaster. If Jane ate at the apartment she usually ordered take out but that was rare because she always made an effort to go home for dinner. Maura understood however that some days Jane was simply too engrossed in the investigation. Sometimes she even joined Jane at the apartment and helped her to go over the evidence.

There had been multiple sightings over the past few months but suddenly the sightings came to a stop three weeks ago. They had heard nothing in three weeks and it was driving Jane crazy as she was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of information. She was prepared to do pretty much anything for the safe return of the child. This fact worried Maura and the team as well as Jane's family.

After Alessandra had been kidnapped and her family murdered, multiple bodies had appeared with evidence that they had been killed by Charles Hoyt.

Almost a month after Alessandra had been taken, a woman in her mid thirties had been found on the highway where they had found the vehicle that had been used in the kidnapping. She had been missing for three weeks. She had dark hair, she wore a simple emerald coloured wrap around style dress and she had been identified as a Miss Lauren Shepard. The woman had been reported as missing by her sister who she was supposed to be meeting at the mall on the day she had been taken.

Two weeks later another woman had been found, this time a 41 year old woman who was identified as Mrs Katherine Delaney. This woman also had dark hair but hers was braided. The braids appeared to have been done poorly which indicated that a child had done them. She had a child's clip in her hair which was light blue with a white butterfly on it. Fingerprints were found on the clip which matched the missing child.

Three weeks and two days after Mrs Delaney had been found, another body was discovered but this time it was closer to the city. She was identified as Miss Lilianna Thompson who was a 25 year old woman, again with dark hair which seemed to be a revealing pattern.

Then it was another five weeks before another body was found but this time it was near the harbour and she was a 29 year old woman who was identified by her girlfriend as Miss Laura Vause. The woman had dark hair and wore jeans with a grey t-shirt. The t-shirt was found to have a small smear of chocolate on it which appeared to be finger marks although there were no prints available from the markings. Testing also revealed traces of tears with DNA matching the child.

It gave them hope that Alessandra was still alive. Two weeks ago, a fifth body was found which was a 45 year old female, the eldest victim since the abduction of Alessandra and she was identified by her husband as Mrs Lucille Murphy. The woman was found in a swimsuit with a towel wrapped around her waist.

The traces found on her linked the woman to a local lake and when questioned, the owner of the cafe recalled the woman being at the lake early that morning and the woman was carrying a little girl.

When shown photos of Alessandra she was certain that it had been the missing child, unfortunately she hadn't recognised the little girl from the amber alert as she hadn't seen it in a while and the concept that the child didn't belong to the woman never crossed her mind.

According to the witness, a man had been with them who matched Hoyt's description but it was hard to tell because he never removed his cap or sunglasses, even when he came inside.

Lucille had reportedly not let the little girl out of her sight as she was seen to be holding the girl's hand for the majority of the time and often carried the little one. A few other people came forward saying they had also seen them there at the small beach but there wasn't anyone who could indicate as to which direction they went in or what vehicle they came or went in.

On Lucille's wrist was a purple hair band which had white stripes on it but most importantly, there were a few strands of curly dark hair wrapped around it which were quickly matched to the girl's DNA profile.

Some families had taken photos that day at the beach of their own children and in a few the child was seen in the background along with the woman. They were together in every shot that they appeared in.

When zoomed in, the little girl seemed quite happy with the woman but quite nervous at the same time according to her body language. Maura was able to analyse the body language of both the woman and child in the photos as she stood in front of a board in the bullpen. She stated that although the woman was smiling, she was showing signs of fear but that she was protecting the child. The way that her hands and arms were positioned when holding the child resembled that of a mother if her child were about to be taken from her.

One family handed over their video camera and in the background was Alessandra.

 _In the front of the camera was a little girl who seemed to be approximately two years old, paddling happily in the water._

 _Behind the little girl, further into the water was Lucille and Alessandra. The woman was holding the child on what appeared to be her hip as she stood in the water. The water came up to her breasts which meant that the child was also partially submerged in the water._

 _The lake's shape started out as shallow but grew rapidly deeper so there was only approximately three meters between the infant paddling and the kidnapped child._

Witnesses said that the man never entered the water but instead sat to the side watching what they had assumed was his wife and child at the time.

 _Jane stood in front of the screen as she watched the footage again, Frost had managed to zoom in on the video which meant that they now had a copy with just the woman and child in the shot rather than the infant paddling. The sound had also been altered to only show the sound of Alessandra and Lucille playing in the water although they couldn't cut out the splashing from other people on the beach, the voices of the pair had been enhanced._

" _ **Again! Again", Alessandra squealed with excitement making Lucille laugh.**_

 _Jane wiped a tear from her eye, she was exhausted from the case, physically and emotionally. Her emotions were running at an all time high and the stress was getting to her. If anyone noticed the salty liquid escape from her eye then they said nothing._

 _ **Lucille span around in the water making the little one screech. It looked like a normal family day with a mother and child. Except… it wasn't.**_

" _Do you think she knows?", Jane asked as she glanced to the side of her and towards her lover._

" _Know what Jane?", she questioned._

 _Jane looked back at the screen, "That she was taken, that her parents are dead along with her siblings or that the man who has her is a murderer?"._

 _Maura sighed as she looked at the frozen image of the little girl's smile, "I don't know Jane"._

" _Maybe she's been shielded from what he's been doing?", Jane said although it was a wishful thought._

" _It is possible", Maura stated._

 _The Detective nodded, "She looks happy", she commented although that didn't mean she would stop looking for her._

 _Doctor Maura Isles nodded, "It could be Stockholm Syndrome", she suggested but then regretted it the moment she said it as Jane's face changed. Suddenly the woman looked as if she was going to cry._

" _Hasn't she been through enough?", Jane commented with a sigh as she ran her hand through her hair with frustration before returning to her desk and settling her head in her hands whilst her elbows rested on the wooden desk._

 _The team said nothing. There was nothing they could say. Maura however silently moved to stand behind Jane, placing her hand gently on her lover's shoulder and showing her support for the woman._

 _After a moment, Jane lifted her head and looked at the doll that was sat on her desk. She reached out and carefully touched a curl, twirling it with her fingers._

The video footage along with the photographs and the evidence found on the bodies of the women that had been found all indicated that the child was alive which gave the whole team hope that they could find her. It was however the last lead that they had had and now they had nothing else to go on. Jane however didn't take that as a final answer so she continued to look for her by searching for local homes around the lake.

Jane was now sat on her sofa staring at a wall which was covered in multiple pieces of evidence, a doll by her side, cold coffee on her table along with pizza that was also gradually cooling. She picked up the photo from the table and looked at it as she whispered, "Happy Birthday Allie", to the empty room.

 **A/N: Again, I apologise for the slow updating rate but I am in preparation for my dissertation and am currently staying at my grandparents so I have been quite distracted.**

 **Vbbneighbor, sweetkid45, KSHAY89 - Thank you for your reviews.**

 **Wigtmh - It's okay, you didn't rush me but it just encouraged me (which is great!)**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I felt I needed to throw in a little fluff and show Jane attempting to make it up to Maura.**

 **Tashieka . Conley - I thought it was an important aspect to include to counteract the negativity of the previous chapter.**


	19. Christmas Eve - A Year Later

Snow had fallen upon the ground, covering the green of the grass and weighing down the branches of the once green trees. A small robin was sat on the back of a wooden bench that sat in the front garden and the flowers that had once been brightly coloured were now nowhere to be seen as they were also covered in a slightly sparkling blanket of white snow.

The street was silent, it was early in the morning and the sun was beginning to rise in the distance. The world seemed to be sleeping.

A house stood in the middle of the street, its lights were out just like the other homes and there were strings of lights on the outside which seemed to make it blend in with the other houses but this house was not like the others. This house was not lived in. This was not a home that was celebrating Christmas like the others.

It was Christmas Eve and yet the lights were not on, the Christmas lights were not shining and there was no sign of life.

Surrounding the house was a string of bright yellow tape which was covered in black printed writing although it was slightly covered in frost and snow. The tape and the darkened Christmas lighting were the only things that signalled to the horrific crimes that had happened exactly one year previously.

Last year the ground had been covered in snow but the Christmas lights had given it a cheerful and happy glow, that was until the day had been tainted with the horrific crimes of Charles Hoyt.

Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli was sat in her car that she had parked in front of the family home; in her mind she saw the scene that she had arrived to last Christmas. She had woken up to the woman of her dreams shortly before getting the phone call that ended up changing the direction of her entire year and giving her a focus that was completely unintentional.

 _Jane tugged the woman even closer to her as she awoke from her deep sleep and had moved so that both of her arms wrapped around the smaller woman in her arms. Maura simply grinned as the woman moved in her bed and took her into her arms fully, "Good Morning Jane", she said softly as she looked up towards the closed eyes in front of her._

 _"Morning Maur'", Detective Jane Rizzoli mumbled as she briefly tightened her arms around Maura as a greeting. Suddenly Jane opened one eye and then a grin spread over her face, "Merry Christmas Maura", she said softly looking towards the woman lying safely in her arms._

 _Maura's hand slid up to cup Jane's cheek gently as she smiled brightly, "Merry Christmas Jane", she said softly to the curly haired Italian woman._

In her mind's eye she recalled the lights shining around the house, the Christmas tree that resided in the bay window and glistened with the multi-coloured lights that decorated it along with the red and gold decorations.

Gradually she got out of her car and closed the door, a sound that almost echoed around the silent street. Jane walked up the snow covered pathway as her mind slipped back to that day. She remembered feeling ill as she walked up to the house, an uneasy feeling deep in her gut at the thought of what she might see when she entered the house and what fate may await the child that she knew had gone missing.

 _Maura nodded and put her hand out to cover Jane's, "We'll find her", she said softly towards the Detective before looking at the house that had once been a home but was now cornered off with yellow crime scene tape with various law enforcement officers and crime scene examiners surrounding it._

 _Jane sighed heavily as she looked at her, "But will she be alive?", she questioned as she stepped out of the car, closing the door and walking towards the crime scene. Maura got out of the car, closing her door but paused as she watched the scene for a moment. Jane was ducking beneath the yellow tape beside an officer after flashing her badge at the young man, Korsak and Frost were to the side talking between each other before turning towards the Detective. Both men looked tired and it was clear by their facial expressions and body language that it was a rough scene._

Jane pulled off the tape that stretched over the door and cut the sealing tape. She reached her hand into her jacket pocket and shivered slightly from the cold Boston morning before she extracted a key from her pocket and glided it into the lock of the wooden door.

The Detective reached up to push open the door after cutting the second lot of sealing tape that prevented tampering with the door. As she stepped into the room she closed the screen door and main door behind her. The house was as cold inside as it was outside, in fact it felt colder for Jane inside than it was outside and she subconsciously rubbed the scarred palms of her hands.

Her mind kept falling back to the moment she had walked into the house a year ago. She remembered the desperate hope she had that she would find the little girl hiding somewhere in the house, unharmed and safe. She remembered the depressive sorrow that had fallen over all of the law enforcement officers that were awaiting their arrival.

Then she remembered the horrific scene that awaited her inside although the blood was now cleared and the bodies removed; it still had a sense of sadness and loss to it.

 _The once white carpet was now painted red with the blood of those that had once spent their Sunday afternoons sprawled out on blankets, sofas and cushions as they watched a movie. The sofa where the children had once watched their favourite cartoons was now splattered with the evidence of a horrific Christmas Eve and had somehow been moved slightly in what seemed to have been a struggle. The walls that had once protected the family from the outside world now resembled those from a horror movie. Photos were not hanging as straight as they had been on the wall and the glass in the frames were no longer spotless as they were now tainted with blood splatter._

As she looked around the room; the Christmas tree remained in the corner of the room with presents surrounding the base and she remembered that she had been the last one to turn them off. She traced her hand over a branch of the tree and sighed heavily as she looked at the various ornaments that covered it. She smiled sadly at the miniature Eiffel Tower, Palace Guard and Taj Mahal ornaments hanging from the branches. She imagined that the family had had a lot of fun travelling together. Her hand drifted down to her stomach as she imagined going to various places with Angioletto and of course with Maura but now she found the image of Alessandra drifting into the imaginary scene within her mind.

Her eyes drifted down to where her feet were surrounded by various wrapped gifts; the golden wrapped papers labelled with 13 year old Christian's name in a curly script like writing, the emerald green shiny gifts addressed to 11 year old Tyler along with the silver wrapped presents that had been tagged and marked with 8 year old Kelly's name in the same black script as the others.

Lastly were the red coloured wrapped boxes that resembled the team colours of the Red Sox team and had the same white tags as the others but these had the missing child's name written upon them in the same beautiful calligraphy; Alessandra. Jane crouched down and reached out before touching a white label addressed to Alessandra.

The Detective brushed a stray tear from her own cheek at the thought of the missing child before she looked around at the other gifts which included the doll house addressed to Kelly, the baseball bats labelled as Christian's and Tyler's, and Alessandra's doll boat. Jane admired the workmanship that had gone into each of the gifts and it made her wonder what the man was like who made them. There was only so much you could learn about a person from a file and witness reports.

Detective Jane Rizzoli sighed heavily before standing up and stepping away from the tree. Suddenly she was overcome with a flashback of the scene that she had seen the last time she was stood in that position inside the living room of the Harmon home. The flashbacks were taking her back to the day she had first walked into the crime scene. This was the first time she had returned to the scene ever since it had happened.

She took a few steps away from the tree and she could not help but look down at the spot where she knew the father's body had previously lay on the floor. She recalled the position that he had been lying in and the way he appeared to have attempted to protect his family.

Jane moved on, deeper into the room and she her mind flashed with the image of Kelly lying on the floor as if sleeping on the thick carpet in her Christmas pyjamas. Her hand went to the blanket that still rested on the back of the sofa and she carefully traced her fingers over the soft material as she recalled the urge to cover the child with the blanket. A very maternal motion that she had felt the urge to do without realising how much the death of Angioletto had influenced the action despite the fact she never carried out the gesture; she knew it would compromise the evidence.

She took a moment to take in the room, the image of the three children still fresh in her mind and heavy on her heart. A Detective never forgot a case, especially those involving children as they weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of those involved in the aftermath.

Jane turned towards the stairs and a flash of memory appeared in her mind as she started to walk up the stairs.

 _Jane turned and began to walk up the carpeted stairs with hand carved hand rails going up the sides of the wall, she couldn't resist running her gloved finger along the intricate carvings of the wood as it was clear that someone had taken great care in carving the pattern into the wood before varnishing it carefully. She followed the blood that led her from the three bodies that lay in the front room to another on the landing._

As she got to the top of the now blood free staircase, she opened the first door to see the Boston Red Sox covered bedroom and she recalled how she spent her time searching the missing little girl in the various cupboards within each of the rooms. She also recalled the disappointment that she had felt not to find the child in any of them even though deep down she had known that she would not be able to find her in the home at all. That disappointment had not left her.

Jane Rizzoli stood for a moment as she looked at the photo of the family at Fenway Park and she couldn't help but smile at the sight of the smiling faces of each of the family members and of course the Red Sox mascot in the background with his 'thumbs' up in the air. It made her think of the July 4th celebrations that she had participated in with her girlfriend as they had spent the morning with family before going to a Red Sox game that ended with a firework show.

 _Jane wrapped her arms around Maura and held her close as the Medical Examiner watched the sky. The Detective however had her eyes on an even more beautiful sight as she watched her girlfriend's face painted with a bright smile and the fireworks splashing various lights over her face along with multiple reflections in her eyes._

" _Beautiful", Jane whispered with a smile._

 _Maura leant into Jane even more and sighed softly, "It sure is", she said with her eyes remaining on the sky, assuming that the dark haired woman was referring to the mixture of lights flashing in the sky but… she wasn't._

 _The Detective pressed a loving kiss to the top of Maura's head, she was truly in love with the woman in her arms and could not help but think 'One day I will marry this woman…'._

Stepping out of the room, she carefully closed the room before she walked towards the next bedroom where she was met with a room which had a focal theme of the Boston Bruins and seemed to have a lot of various sports equipment scattered around the room. Her eyes drifted to a photo canvas on the wall which depicted the young boy with his father at a Bruins game, they appeared to be so happy and the thought that such a horrific monster had stolen that from them made a painful feeling spring up within the depths of her heart.

Again she carefully closed the door to the bedroom but this time she paused in the hallway.

 _From the position of the mother's body, Jane assumed that the woman had been attempted to reach her little girl. She hypothesised that Hoyt had killed the others and in a last attempt to save her remaining child, she attempted to get to her but the painted red of the woman's night clothes highlighted to her that it had failed. Again her hand drifted to her stomach…_

The next bedroom was much more feminine than the others and was covered in pink with a multitude of fluffy items and glitter smothered belongings. The name 'Kelly' on the door much like the signs on her brother's doors. She smiled at the photo of the child participating in ballet which resided upon the bedroom bedside table just as it had when the little girl had been alive only a year beforehand. Jane's eyes drifted over the multitude of dolls and bears that were scattered around the room and the dance competition trophies that resided on the walls; there were four in total with one having golden ballet shoes on the top of them.

Jane Clementine Rizzoli again closed the door before walking to the next room and she entered the bathroom, she was again following the steps she had previously taken which meant visiting the rooms in the same order as she had the previous year although this time she didn't open the closet doors or the cupboard doors to check for the missing child because she already knew she was too late and this time the hope that she would be there was completely gone.

She reached up her hand and pushed open the door to the bathroom before stepping inside to stand in front of the photo that resided within the walls of the room, "I will find her", she whispered softly as her finger traced the photo of the parents. The father stood in his marine uniform as they stood in front of a large ship. Again she turned in the room and found herself admiring the intricate details that were etched into each of the handmade wooden fittings of the bathroom.

Soon she found herself stood in front of a door with the name 'Alessandra' written upon it in hand carved wooden letters which had been painted a light blue with little stars all over it. Jane took a deep breath before pushing it open and once more entering the bedroom. It had not been altered or changed in any manner since she had last been there. The books still resided upon the shelves, the microscope still lived on the desk that Jane imagined had also been made by the child's father and the wall was still decorated with awards and certificates from multiple educational events and science fairs.

The only difference was the thin layer of dust that had begun to cover everything in the room, just like in each of the other rooms as it had been sealed off to everyone ever since that horrific Christmas Day. A day that was supposed to be so joyful had been turned into a hell caused by Charles Hoyt himself.

Last time she was in the room, Maura had come up behind her and offered her silent comfort but this time she was alone, having left her lover in their bed at Beacon Hill. This was something that she felt she needed to do alone.

 _She was stood with her back to the door when she heard Maura coming up the stairs, Jane's eyes were scanning the room as she took note of the bedding that had been pulled back and it appeared as if part of the bedding was missing as the others seemed to have an extra blanket compared to this one. Each of the other of the children's beds had a fluffy blanket and a stuffed toy on them but this one didn't have either which led the Detective to believe that they had been taken along with the child. She couldn't help but be glad that at least the little girl had something that might give her a little piece of comfort in the confusion of all of this drama that seemed to be happening around her._

As she remembered the first time she had seen the doll, the doll that now usually resided in the guest bedroom at Beacon Hill but now she held in her left arm, she glanced down at it before sitting down on the bed with the doll held in both hands. She leant forward and sighed heavily, "Where are you?", she said with slight frustration. It was not however frustration directed at the child but at Hoyt and his actions.

 _Jane stepped into the room further again and picked up a china doll that sat on the side. It appeared to be very much like the little girl who had gone missing as the doll hard dark curls and bright blue eyes. It wore a silk blue dress with a matching bow in its hair along with white tights and blue doll shoes. Jane looked at the photos on the wall of the little girl, grinning with her father, winning awards and smiling with her family before looking at the doll again. The Detective sighed heavily, "Why'd he take her Maur'?", she asked without looking up at the honey blonde Medical Examiner, "Why break his M.O. and take a child?"._

 _Maura looked up, taking in the sight of the dark haired Detective holding a china doll in her hands, "I... don't know", she said softly, not having an answer for the woman, she hated to guess and at that point in time she had no evidence to back up any hypothesis that her mind concocted._

Maura had not known a reason behind the serial killer's changing of M.O and truth be told they still did not have a full answer as to why he had made such changes within his behaviour. Why would he want to take a child? They had their theories but the fact that the child still alive was something that seemed to be confusing to them although at the same time they were glad that it was the case.

Since finding the body of 45 year old Mrs Lucille Murphy in June, they had since found 9 more.

28 year old Josslyn DiNozzo had been found near the docks and had been reported as missing by her brother who was living with her at the time. She had been missing for only two weeks before her body was discovered by a fisherman.

Elaina D'Anton had been missing for five weeks when she was found by an elderly man who had been out walking his wife's dog early in the morning at the local park. The small dog had run off into the bushes and the man had lost sight of it so he had followed the small creature otherwise known as Lady. The wife was rather keen on the movie 'Lady and the Tramp' so had felt that she needed to name the small, fluffy dog after the main character. Elaina had been 48 years old at the time of her death and had been found three days before what would have been her 49th birthday. She had been reported missing by her mother who lived in Australia after she failed to make contact with her for almost a week despite scheduled skype sessions.

Mrs Jennifer Bishop was found deceased in the same park only a few weeks after Miss D'Anton had been discovered. Mrs Bishop had much shorter hair than the others although like the others hers was also dark, she had been reported missing by her 24 year old son who had moved back in with her after the death of 52 year old Mr Bishop only six months previously and had died due to an undiagnosed heart condition. She had been 46 at the time of her death and was found dressed in a burgundy dress with white flowers that her son commented that she would never have chosen on her own.

The next to found was a 26 year old female student who had been taken from campus, this time a CCTV feed at the university had picked up the abduction and Hoyt was seen on the footage with two men. One was driving and one grabbed the girl, Hoyt however seemed to be quite happy to stand by the side and even smiled at the camera as if taunting the Detectives. Campus security called law enforcement but by the time they managed to do anything the van was gone and so was the girl. She was missing for 9 weeks before her body was found and she seemed to have been held captive for the longest amount of time out of all of the women.

Her name was Thalia Haines; she wore a pair of jeans with a pink blouse and in her pocket was a folded up piece of paper. The paper was tattered and torn but marked with crayons. It was a drawing that was clearly done by a child and due to Alessandra's fingerprints being found on the paper it was hypothesised that she had been the one to draw it. The drawing was of butterflies of various colours but in the corner was a dark squiggle. Maura had hypothesised that the squiggle symbolised the location that she was being kept in, the darkness and horror shown in it made tears spring to the eyes of the medically trained woman.

Only two weeks after Thalia had been found, another body was discovered and had been thrown in an alleyway near to the precinct despite it being a risky location to leave a body it seemed to be a message to taunt the detectives. More precisely to taunt Jane who Hoyt knew would still be on the case as she knew from experience that she would not let go of a case until she had solved it. He wanted her to know that not only did he still have the girl but that she was nowhere near catching him. At least that was what he thought. The body was unclaimed, not reported as missing and unidentified. She had dark hair, hazel eyes and wore a set of white pyjamas with traces of cookie crumbs on them.

Following the discovery of Jane Doe, they then found 21 year old Charlotte Kent who was dressed in jeans and a strappy brown top along with a lighter brown bolero jacket. The youngest victim since the event the previous Christmas. Her feet were bare and in her pocket was a USB drive. On the drive was a file. A video file of the missing child.

 _The little girl was looking up at the camera, she was sat on the dirt floor with her legs crossed and she seemed to be outside._

 _Behind her was the darkness of night, a large broken tree and some grass whilst the reflection within her eyes revealed a burning bonfire in front of her along with Charles Hoyt who was stood with a camera._

 _Alessandra looked nervous and she hooked a stray curl behind her ear. The little girl was wearing a dress although it seemed to be torn and rather dirty whilst her hair was slightly messy. The child glanced off camera and the reflection of her eyes revealed that she had in fact looked at the 21 year old victim who was kneeling down around a meter away from the camera. Maura hypothesised that the woman was attempting to stay calm for the sake of the child._

 _Hoyt's voice was then heard on the camera, "Remember what I told you?", he asked with an evil sounding voice._

 _The young girl nodded, her eyes were down but then she looked at the side of the camera and nodded to something he was doing or saying but that was unheard from the microphone._

 _Her eyes then moved directly to the camera but was glancing to the side which was later determined to be Hoyt holding a sign for her to read and that is exactly what she did. "Detective Jane Rizzoli", she said softly, "Have you given up yet?"._

 _A manic chuckle was heard from the side of the camera which made the little one gulp. He was clearly having fun taunting the Italian Detective. Alessandra tilted her head in question as she looked towards her captor, "Who is Detective Jane Rizzoli?", she questioned with curiosity._

" _Jane is the Detective in charge of looking for you", the man answered in a voice that could almost make your blood curdle and would have fit well into a horror movie or psychological thriller._

 _Alessandra looked down briefly, seemingly thinking for a moment before looking up at the camera, "Please", she said softly and now off script, "Please come find me Jane". Tears were slipping from her bright blue eyes although it was not part of Hoyt's plan to taunt Jane, it was what affected her the most. "I want to come home now Jane, I want to go home so I can see Mommy and Daddy again", she said gently, "And Tyler of course and Christian and Kelly… even though Kelly took my dolly's hat". Alessandra then glanced off camera again, towards the female victim before she spoke again, "Charlie is going home tonight, Santa is taking her", the child said with slight enthusiasm not realising that Hoyt was not telling the truth about returning Charlotte aka Charlie safely to her home, "She has homework to do so she can't stay with me anymore"._

 _Her eyes were downcast and within seconds, Charlotte was seen walking into the shot hastily as though she knew that if she was not quick enough then she would be stopped._

 _Just as the young woman dropped to the floor and embraced the crying child, the camera cut off._

After Charlotte, the bodies seemed to continue to pile up; 32 year old Delilah Tattum, 41 year old Stephanie Hargitay, 30 year old Grace Nichols and most recently was 28 year old Susie Croft.

Charles Hoyt seemed quite confident in himself and continued to drop bodies around the Boston area. They had found a multitude of evidence which revealed that the little girl was in fact alive; sightings in various places that ranged from parks to stores but he always seemed to be quite careful and rather quick, traces of DNA which included strands of hair caught up in hair ties and fingerprints on clips along with drawings. Photos and videos had also been found. The footage and images included the lake where she had been with Lucille, some around what seemed to be a campfire or bonfire and even a photo that had been taken on the steps of Jane's apartment building. He was taunting the Detective and they all knew it.

Jane now sat on the missing child's bed, holding her doll with tears flowing down her face. He was aiming to torture her, he was aiming to break her but his game was slow as he wanted to take his time to create what he thought would be the 'best effect' and most damage. His plan was to destroy her. His plan was to destroy Jane Rizzoli. However he would have his 'fun' first.

The dark haired Italian Detective heard a noise downstairs, it sounded as if the door had been opened and closed. Instinctively she pulled her service weapon from the holster at her hip and aimed it at the door after carefully placing the doll on the bed. She had swiped away at the salty tears that had flowed down her cheeks and lightly stung her eyes. Her heart was racing, he wouldn't have come back… would he?

As she moved out of the room, she was met with the sight of her girlfriend standing in front of her who had just arrived and was watching with slightly widened eyes. Maura reached up and carefully pushed the weapon down so that it no longer pointed at her.

Jane instantly relaxed and embraced her girlfriend after disarming the weapon and putting the gun back into the holster. She was clearly relieved to find that it was Maura Isles who had entered the home and not anybody else.

"What are you doing here?", the woman questioned softly, although clearly glad that she was there.

Doctor Maura Isles smiled sadly as she reached up and cupped her cheek, "I wanted to be here for you", she said softly, "I know it isn't easy for you".

Jane nodded, "Thank you", she said softly before returning to her position on the bed with the doll in her hands.

Maura sat down beside her and rested her head on the dark haired woman's shoulder before linking her hand with one of Jane's.

"It's been a year Maur', a whole year and we haven't found her yet", Jane said with a voice that was clearly filled with pain, "I am supposed to be a detective and I can't even find a missing child, I must be the worst detective there is".

Jane's declaration had Maura on her knees, she knelt in front of the woman and cupped her cheeks within the softness of her hands, "You are an amazing detective Jane", she said softly, "You will find Alessandra soon and then you can bring her home".

The Detective smiled, "Home", she whispered.

"Home", Doctor Maura Isles repeated.

"Do you think we really can…?", she said softly, her question trailing off into the unspoken.

The honey blonde woman nodded, "Jane", she said gently, "She has no other family and we both know that when you get that little girl in your arms after searching for her for all this time then you will find it incredibly hard to let her go". She tucked a dark curl behind the woman's ear before continuing, "We won't let her go into the system Jane", she confirmed, "I will do everything I can so that _we_ can give Allie the home and life that her parents would have wanted for her".

"We're going to bring Allie home", she said with determination as she sat up a little straighter.

Maura couldn't help but smile at the determination that she could see in her girlfriend's tear filled eyes because it meant that the woman had not given up, "We sure are", she said softly, "We're going to bring Allie home". Her words were repeating Jane's on purpose in order to confirm what she had said and give her more hope as well as strength.

 **A/N: Okay so that was long but… I thought that the length was needed because I didn't want to chop this up into sections as I thought it would take away the emotion in a way (I am not clear on how but… oh well).**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your loyal reviews, I am so honoured that you choose to leave comments for each of the chapters that I post for this story. It won't be long now before Alessandra is found.**

 **Vbbneighbor - Thank you for your review, I have done my best to include as much detail as possible and even had to write up a timeline so that I know what happened when and with some details along with my basic plan as to what to write. It is definitely the most complicated story that I have written on here (or at least I think it is) although a lot of the time it seems to almost 'write itself'.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I have never watched 'Women's Murder Club' although I would like to but have no idea where to access it. I did try before to find links to it but couldn't find them. Any likeness to Lindsay Boxer is purely coincidental because I honestly have no idea about the character other than the fact she is played by Angie Harmon. She definitely is going a little crazy especially with him taunting her so much (and even more of the taunting depicted in this chapter). Thank you again for reviewing, I always look forward to reading them after posting a new chapter.**

 **Jjswinnlive - Thank you for reviewing. I am only planning my dissertation at the moment and doing some of the research as I don't go back to university until October and my dissertation is due in April (I think..).**


	20. Christmas Morning - A Year Later

The following morning Jane lay in bed with her girlfriend lying partially on top of her and partially on the bed. Maura seemed very comfortable as she lay peacefully with her head resting on the Detective's chest. Their nude bodies entwined with each others and their hands linked together.

A small slither of light was filtering through the tiny gap in the curtains and created a line across the bed linen that covered their bodies.

Detective Jane Rizzoli lay on her back, holding Maura close to her as her mind whispered repeatedly, repeating what Maura had told her the previous day whilst at the Harmon residence. " _We're going to bring Allie home",_ the words echoed within the mind of the Italian woman and they gave her hope. To most they were simply six words of possible wishful thinking but to her it was an inspirational slither of hope.

Jane and the rest of the homicide team had not been officially involved with the case for months now as the Federal Bureau of Investigation had taken it over from them although Jane still kept in contact with them and continuously ran her own investigation. They had attempted at first to tell her not to but after realising that they were speaking to a brick wall they soon gave up on the understanding that she hand over any information that she discovered. Another reason that she was permitted to stay within the investigation was that Hoyt seemed to be targeting Jane in a way as his taunts were directed at her rather than the whole of the homicide or even the BPD or the FBI.

Doctor Maura Isles stretched slightly as she began to wake and her eyes fluttered open resulting in a huge smile from the Detective. Jane loved to wake up with Maura and to be the first to see those beautiful eyes of hers in the morning, "Good Morning", she said softly to her lover.

"Good Morning", Maura replied with a smile as she pushed herself to lean up on her elbow beside Jane with part of her body still leaning over the woman, she leant down and pressed a loving and short kiss to Jane's lips. "Merry Christmas", she said softly before planting another kiss upon her soft lips.

"Merry Christmas", Jane responded gently as she reached up to cup the other woman's cheek lovingly and used the other hand to hold Maura close to her at her side.

Maura smiled towards Jane, her eyes shining with pure love and happiness as she rolled slightly to lay on her lover rather than beside her.

Jane's arms instantly wrapped around her to hold her close and she spread her legs slightly so that Maura fit perfectly between them. One of Jane's hands slid up from the honey blonde's waist to tangle slightly in her hair, pulling her down to crash their lips together in a passionate duel.

Slightly out of breath, they pulled apart with huge smiles on their faces, "I love you so much", the dark haired woman whispered to her with her hand on her cheek and the other at her waist.

"I love you too Jane", Maura Isles said with a smile as bright as the sunshine that was attempting to sneak into their bedroom.

The Detective held her close, "Can we stay here all day?", she asked as she looked into the eyes that she had fallen in love with long ago.

Maura smiled, "I would love to stay in bed all day with you", she said softly gaining a smile from her lover, "But…your mother will be here to cook Christmas dinner in two hours time and I do not wish to greet her in the bedroom whilst wearing a substantial lack of clothing".

Jane smirked, "Two hours?", she asked softly for confirmation.

She glanced at the clock before back towards Jane, "Two hours and three minutes to be more precise", Maura responded, unsure of what Jane was smirking at.

"Perfect", she said happily, "That means we have time".

"Time for what?", Maura said with slight confusion.

Jane simply rolled them over so that it was her on top rather than the Medical Examiner, "This", she whispered as she positioned herself to be straddling one of the other woman's legs and kissing her deeply.

The new position resulted in a small moan from the woman whose back was now flat on the mattress, "I'm glad we have time", Maura said softly after their lips eventually broke away from each other.

The dark haired Italian woman smirked slightly again before leaning forward for another kiss, she was running her left hand down Maura's side as she spoke, "So am I", she responded simply before moving to grind down firmly on her lover.

The moan that slipped from the lips of her lover made Jane grin, clearly rather pleased with herself before she continued the action as she kissed her.

It was approximately two hours before they both lay beside each other; they were sweaty and breathing erratically from their bedroom exercises together when they heard a door slam downstairs and Angela Rizzoli calling out for them.

Maura's eyes went wide as she looked to the side towards the woman who was sharing her bed.

Jane smiled reassuringly at her slightly panicked lover before she sat up and called out to her mother in return in order to inform her that she would be down soon.

Instead of instantly getting up and getting dressed like her lover was attempting to do, she pulled Maura back down onto the bed and kissed her lovingly, "Wait a moment", she said softly.

"We have to go downstairs", Maura attempted, "Your mother is here".

Jane shook her head, "Not yet", she said softly, "Just wait one moment, I have something for you". The Detective leant over the side of the bed and reached beneath it to pull a present out from behind the bedside table before sitting up straight on the bed.

The small black velvet ring box was presented to Maura, who paused looking at the woman before taking the box. She slowly opened it, taking in the softness of the box and then the shiny white gold ring inside of it.

"I wanted to show you how much I love you and I thought this would be perfect", Jane said with slight nervousness in case the gift was unwanted or disliked in any manner.

Maura looked up at her, "You show me that every single day Jane", she said softly before cupping her cheek, "You don't need to buy a single thing to show me that because I can see it in everything that you do and say". She looked down and smiled at the ring, "This is perfect though", she said with a smile, "I love it".

The Detective seemed rather happy with that response, "I was hoping you'd like it", she said softly, "I…".

"Love it", Maura said softly, interrupting the woman briefly, "I don't like it… I _love_ it".

Jane's face broke into a slightly goofy smile, "Love it", she repeated, correcting herself, "I thought that the meaning was perfect for us".

The honey blonde smiled and nodded as she plucked the ring from its case, "The hands for friendship", she said softly as her spare hand reached out and took hold of Jane's. "The heart for love", she said with a smile before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to the Italian's lips. "And the crown for loyalty", she finished before she kissed the other woman much more passionately.

Detective Rizzoli gently took the ring from Maura and slid it carefully onto her left ring finger. Although it was usually the position that the ring was put in for an engagement ring it was also the finger that was sometimes used for a 'pre-engagement' ring so Maura simply smiled and pressed a kiss to the woman's lips.

Maura looked down at the ring and she couldn't help but smile at it, thinking about what it would be like with an engagement ring and wedding ring placed on that very same finger.

The blissful smile on the woman's face made Jane happy with her gift, "What are you thinking about?", she asked softly.

"I was thinking that...one day", she said softly, pausing to kiss her, "One day, I'm going to marry you".

Maura's declaration made Jane's face break out with her biggest smile yet, "Not if I marry you first", she said rolling them both over again.

The woman who was yet again on her back laughed happily, "That doesn't make any sense".

"Sure it does", the Italian woman said with a grin.

Maura shook her head, "We would have to marry each other at the same time", she said with confusion.

"Fine", she said with amusement, "I will reword it…". She paused and kissed her before speaking, "I am going to ask you to marry me first".

"Are you sure?", Maura asked with a raised eyebrow and slight smirk.

Now it was Jane's turn to look confused, "Am I sure I want to marry you?", she questioned, "Of course… I always have done and always will".

Shaking her head in a negative manner although still with a smile, "I mean… what makes you so sure that you will be the one to ask me?", she questioned, "Why do you think that it won't be me who asks you?".

"Because I'm the guy", she said referring to a conversation that they had a long time ago.

Maura found herself laughing and shaking her head, "I love you", she said opting not to debate the concept.

Jane smiled and began to get up to get dressed but her lover spoke up, "Wait", she said hastily before she bent over and pulled something out of the drawer at the side of her bed.

Maura sat up with a small box in her hands this time, "It seems that we had the same idea", she said softly, "Or at least very similar ideas".

The Detective took hold of the box as it was passed to her and she gradually opened it. She smiled brightly looking at the ring inside of it, the ring had an infinity symbol on the front of it and on the inside it had an engraving.

"Sempre e per sempre", Jane said softly as she read out the engraving of small letters on the inside of the ring in a perfect Italian accent as she said 'Forever and Always'.

Maura smiled brightly as she watched her lover before she copied Jane's previous actions by taking the ring back to slide it onto Jane's finger carefully, "Ti amo per sempre e sempre", she said softly, choosing to say it in the language that fit with her lover's familial roots.

Jane returned the loving phrase and cupped her cheeks before kissing her passionately.

Jane entered the kitchen first whilst Maura was still getting ready for the day and rearranging her hair after her lover had messed it up. "Morning Ma", she said as she entered the kitchen.

Angela Rizzoli happily embraced her child with great enthusiasm, "Good Morning Janie", she said with a joyful smile, "Merry Christmas".

"Merry Christmas Ma", Jane replied quite happily as she extracted herself from her mother's bear hug.

Just as she was about to turn around, Angela froze and her eyes went wide as they settled upon the ring that was surrounding her daughter's ring finger, "You're...?", she questioned, although not finishing her sentence. A smile began to grow and she looked excited.

The Detective looked down, following her mother's line of sight before shaking her head, "Oh no it isn't an engagement ring Ma", she said softly to her.

The smile that had grown on Angela's face dropped, "Then… what is it?".

Jane fiddled with the ring whilst looking at it, "A pre-engagement ring or promise ring", she replied, "I got her one too".

"Oh my baby's getting married", she exclaimed with pure excitement, "I always wanted a Doctor in the family".

"Ma", Jane started but then changed her mind about what she was going to say, "Ever since I met Maura you've had a Doctor in the family". "Even if we hadn't gotten together she would always be family", Jane said softly, "I would have just had to love her from a distance"

"I know Janie", Angela said softly as she cupped her daughter's cheek, "She always has been family and always will but now it will be official".

Jane nodded, "I can't wait".

"I'm just glad that the two of you finally got your act together, I was starting to wonder if you would ever realise that you were meant to be together", Angela said with a roll of her eyes as she moved back to the counter where she was cutting up vegetables.

Jane looked a little shocked, "You knew…?", she questioned, not needing to explain her question any more than that.

The Rizzoli matriarch nodded, "Of course I knew Janie", she said softly, "I don't think I've ever seen two people love each other as much as the two of you do". "I used to see you watching her when she wasn't looking", she said as she moved back to her daughter and cupped her cheek, "There was so much love in your eyes but… so much sadness too".

"I never thought for a moment that she would love me back…", Jane revealed, "At least not in the way that I… that I have always loved her".

The honey blonde Medical Examiner who had been standing behind the door, out of sight, finally entered the room. At first her eavesdropping had been purely by accident but after realising that her lover was having a moment with her mother, she paused and waited for the right time to enter. Maura had decided that Jane's comment warranted her entrance, "I thought the same about you Jane", she said softly.

Jane span around, her smile grew although the tears remained in her eyes, unshed and she moved to stand in front of Maura, quickly wrapping her arms around her. "I love you so much Maura", she said softly as she held her close to her.

"I love you too", Maura said as she went up onto her toes to press a kiss to her lips, "So very much".

 **A/N:**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for reviewing again. She may do that - I won't confirm or deny it yet though ;)**

 **LoveIsles - Thank you :)**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you!**

 **Scolton21 - I am glad that you enjoyed the chapter, unfortunately not a break in the case for this chapter but there will be a rather big break/event coming up soon…**

 **Tasheika . conley - I am so glad that I could make it feel real for you, hopefully I can keep that up for the rest of the story…**

 **Vbbneighbor - I would have cut it into two but I wasn't sure whether it was a fitting thing to do for that chapter because of the quantity of flashbacks included within it which I think is what made it so long really rather than what happened on that day. I will definitely look for Women's Murder Club on youtube - thank you! I agree that details definitely are important, I try to include as many as possible that are relevant but if I miss out anything it is usually on purpose to use later in a flashback or something like that (or on occasion like with the FBI I forgot...whoops?). I am very glad that you are 'addicted' to it though! Thank you for your review.**

 **Dd113 - I have included a small part about the FBI in this chapter to answer your question. Apologies for not including that sooner, I was going to include it in the six months chapter and I must have forgotten to do so. I didn't include a lot from the FBI simply on the basis that I didn't want the story to focus on them and instead on Jane and Maura.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Apologies for the Kleenex issue. I can promise you that Jane will be okay in the end although she will have to face the monster but that is all I shall say ;). Thank you for letting me know where the episodes are… I will have to check that out!**

 **Guest - Your comment is irrelevant to the story and pointless. If you had a brain you would realise that there is a little button at the top that says 'hide profile' so in the future please make use of it if you do not wish to read profiles. Mine is set up that way because I am showing which ones I am planning to rewrite or add to however it is not actually a full list of the stories that I have written.**


	21. New Year's Eve - Take Two

Jane was stood in front of the mirror in their bedroom, she was wearing a short black dress with black high heels along with a simple diamond necklace. She had purchased her outfit especially for that night. She had also had her nails done so that they were perfectly manicured and she had been to the hairdressers for it to be cut, washed as well as styled. Her hair was down but styled into tamed curls and swept to the side using slides. She had carefully applied a minimalistic layer of natural looking makeup to her face.

The dark haired woman knew that this was her chance to make up for the previous year's New Year's Eve celebrations when she managed to upset her lover by unintentionally ignoring the woman whilst her focus was on the Harmon kidnapping and murder case. Not only had she forgotten to attend the event at the Dirty Robber but she had also managed to neglect the beautiful Medical Examiner that owned her heart.

Detective Rizzoli had hoped for the perfect New Year's Eve that she had always dreamed of with the stunning honey blonde woman but instead she had gotten the cold shoulder when it came to the countdown to midnight. Jane was not stupid however as she knew that it was her own fault. She knew that she was the only one to blame but she also knew that this year was her chance to make up for it. She needed to. There were no excuses. She needed to do this for Maura because she knew that the woman deserved better than what she had experienced the previous year.

 _Maura turned in the way that the Detective was guiding her head. It was clear she was unhappy._

 _...3…_

 _"What's wrong?", Jane asked softly, wanting to kiss the woman on the strike of midnight._

 _...2…_

 _"Really Jane?", Maura asked in disbelief, "You ignore me all night and now you ask me what's wrong?"_

 _...1…_

 _Jane's face dropped in shock as she realised what she had done, she looked at her inebriated lover and then at the boards before back but any answer she was going to give was halted by the cheers of people ringing in the new year along with the hot honey blonde woman getting up from her lap._

As she remembered the previous year, more importantly the tears that she saw in her lover's eyes and the hurt that she had caused her.

She was so distracted that whilst she was stood in front of the floor length mirror, her girlfriend came out of the bathroom and Maura stood in the doorway watching her.

Maura was stood there in her emerald green dress, designer high heels, her hair perfectly pinned up with diamond hair slides and matching jewellery. She had a soft smile on her face and love within the depths of her eyes as she watched Jane. "So beautiful", she whispered softly.

Jane jumped slightly before spinning around to face her girlfriend, "How long have you been stood there?", she asked gently with a smile as she stepped towards the Doctor.

"Not very long", Maura replied with a positive expression as she stepped towards the Detective in return, "I was quite enjoying watching you". She had a small smirk on her face as she reached her arms up to place them on the other woman's shoulders.

Jane's arms slipped around Maura's waist in order to gently pull her closer and kiss her softly, "Oh really?", she questioned with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"That dress looks stunning on you", the shorter woman commented as she ran her eyes over the Italian woman's body before making eye contact again. "It's new, isn't it?", she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

Nodding, Jane confirmed Maura was correct, "I wanted to make sure that tonight was perfect for you", she said softly, glancing away before continuing, "I know how important fashion is to you so….".

Maura leant up and pressed a kiss to her lips, "You don't have to wear a dress to make any night perfect for me", she stated softly as she cupped the other woman's cheek, "All you have to do is be there with me". She didn't just mean in a physical manner but also in a more emotional way too as the previous year despite her physical presence, she wasn't truly there.

Yet again Jane nodded, "I love you so much Maur' and…", she paused momentarily, "I am so so sorry for what I did".

"I know", Maura said lovingly as she pressed another kiss to the woman's slightly painted lips, "You showed me that the following morning".

"You deserved so much better than how I treated you that night", Jane stated as she held the other woman as close as physically possible, "And tonight I'll make it up to you, that I can promise you". "You are my world and I love you with all of my heart", Detective Rizzoli said softly with love within the sounds of her voice, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you".

She had slightly watery eyes as tears had filled them quickly, "I love you too Jane", she said before kissing her softly, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you too and I can't wait to see in the New Year in with you".

Jane smiled, "Let's go", she said softly before kissing Maura lovingly.

Maura nodded with a smile before she walked with her lover down the stairs.

The dark haired woman opened the closet to remove Maura's coat from the hook first and offering it to the woman, helping her into it.

Doctor Isles' smile was bright as she was helped into her coat, "Thank you", she said softly before she started to do up each of the buttons on the coat.

Whilst Maura was doing up her coat, Jane pulled her own jacket from the closet and put it on before shutting the white wooden door.

Once their coats were secured in preparation for the cold weather that they knew they were about to face, Jane reached out and opened the door before offering Maura her arm.

Maura accepted the offer of Jane's arm and held onto her forearm as they both stepped out of the front door. The homeowner turned and locked the door before continuing with her lover out onto the driveway.

White snow was covering the floor lightly, falling from the sky were small flurries of the same white substance and Maura paused in the middle of the driveway. They were half way between the door and the car but instead of walking they found themselves watching the snow. Maura had her head tilted to the sky as she felt the snow falling onto the soft skin of her face whilst Jane on the other hand was watching the snow as a reflection in her lover's hazel eyes.

"It's beautiful", Maura said with her eyes towards the sky, "Don't you think so Jane?".

"Definitely", Jane agreed as Maura glanced over to her, "Very beautiful".

Maura smiled with a raised eyebrow, "You're not even looking".

Jane Clementine Rizzoli smiled brightly, "I can assure you that I am looking at the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen", she stated in a soft tone before she kissed her lover softly upon the lips.

"But Jane", she began gently, "You're just looking at me". Jane could not help but sigh slightly at that comment but before she could comment, Maura continued, "When in reality you should be looking in a mirror".

The Detective shook her head with a smile, "I stand by my original statement Doctor Isles", she said with a slight formality to it.

Maura Isles could not help but blush slightly at that and smile brightly before she leant up to kiss the other woman with love and passion seeping into the loving action.

"Come on", Jane said softly as she slightly tugged at Maura's arm as she led them both to the passenger door of the car, "You're cold and we have a party to get to".

Maura smiled happily as she walked with her to the car, she was careful as to where she stepped because of the amount of ice that was mixed in with the layers of snow.

Jane opened the passenger's side door for her lover before Maura gracefully sat down in the seat. She closed the door to the car before moving around to the driver's side door in order to get into it herself. Before she strapped herself in but after turning on the heating system, she felt the need to lean over towards her girlfriend and press a loving kiss to her lips which soon increased in passion.

Once they had pulled apart in order to pull in the much needed oxygen that they had temporarily denied themselves of, she strapped herself in like Maura had already done the moment she got in.

With a turn of the key and a few actions by the Detective, they were soon on their way to their destination in a warmed up car. Maura's hand found its way over to the other side of the car in order to rest on her lover's thigh whilst Jane's reached down to hers every now and then but for the majority of the time she kept both hands on the wheel. She was always more careful when she was driving with Maura in the car, it had always been that way because she felt the need to protect the woman and keep her safe from harm.

It wasn't long before Jane was parking the car near the bar and switching off the engine. The Detective got out of the car and walked swiftly to the other side of the car where she opened the door for Maura and offered the woman her arm straight away.

Maura looked at her and smiled gratefully, "Thank you", she said softly before taking the offered arm and walking with her on the painted white sidewalk towards the bar where they planned to celebrate the New Year.

The dark haired Italian woman opened the door and signalled for Maura to walk in first before walking with her towards the table where she could see the team waiting for them along with Jane's brother and mother. Jane had her hand resting on the other woman's lower back, if it were anyone else then Maura would have thought it to be quite a possessive action but with Jane she found herself quite fond of the action. In fact she encouraged the woman to do it as she tended to lean more into her and in a crowd she would glance towards her as if silently asking for that action that she now saw as reassuring and loving.

After the usual greetings, both women removed their coats and hung them both on the back of the only spare chair before Jane sat down. Once Jane had sat down upon the only available seat, she pulled the honey blonde Medical Examiner into her lap and wrapped her arms securely around her.

Maura Isles, of course had no objection to the positioning that they were now in but instead found herself leaning into the other woman more and smiling brightly as Jane pressed a kiss to her forehead in a caring manner.

This year, contrary to the last, there were no case files or boards or even talk about cases but instead drinks were shared along with laughs and smiles. Jane joined in with everything from drinking games to simply holding Maura close to her and sharing loving moments.

The music changed and suddenly shouting began. The countdown had started and soon a new year would begin.

 _10…_

The bar was filled with people with some in fancy dress.

 _...9…_

Jane looked around at her family and friends all of which surrounded her.

 _...8…_

The dark haired Detective looked down at her lover who remained in her lap.

 _...7…_

Maura looked up and smiled brightly at her girlfriend.

 _...6…_

Detective Rizzoli was thankful that she had the chance to make it up to her lover and that she could celebrate with her.

 _...5…_

Doctor Isles was grateful that her lover had taken the opportunity to make it up to her and wanted to spend time with her.

 _...4…_

The love shone in Jane's eyes as she smiled brightly at her, whispering the numbers at Maura rather than shouting like the rest of the bar were.

 _...3…_

In return, the Doctor was also speaking much softer than the others as she counted down to the stroke of midnight with Jane. The love was pure and the love was clear.

 _...2…_

"I love you", she whispered to the woman in her lap.

 _...1…_

"I love you too", the woman said as the others started to shout 'Happy New Year' to each other in drunken, slurred voices.

Maura leaned in and pressed her lips to Jane's, kissing her with an increasing level of passion.

Jane's arms held her close to her, securing her in her lap as their tongues dueled a battle that both would win.

On the other side of the table, Angela Rizzoli found herself in the arms of Vince Korsak; her daughter's ex-partner. Nina also found her lips rather busy as they started the New Year as they were interlocked with that of Frankie Rizzoli. Both were quite spontaneous actions without much thought behind them although admittedly a lot of alcohol.

The bar was a mess of intoxicated people, kissing people and party streamers everywhere.

 **A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews, apologies if I have ever failed to reply but I don't always seem to get the notifications.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for the review, I can't wait either but it will be quite a while before that happens.**

 **Vbbneighbour, sweetkid45 - Thank you for your reviews.**

 **Scolton21 - I figured that we need fluff chapters thrown in so that it prevents the story from being too negative (we all need a little fluff in our lives!). Admittedly there wasn't a big break in the case for this chapter but there will be in the next… a rather BIG one ;) Thank you for your review.**

 **Tasheika . Conley - I loved it too, I wanted them to have some sort of alteration to their relationship but I thought an engagement might be a bit too soon as I don't believe that they are really in the place for that so I thought a pre engagement ring would be perfect. Truth be told I started that chapter with the aim for Jane to give Maura the ring but then added Maura's ring for Jane in afterwards. Thank you again for reviewing!**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I promise that everything will work out in the end. Thank you for reviewing again, I am glad that there were no need for the Kleenex box to come out this time.**

 **Dd113 - Admittedly pre-engagement rings are not that common but I wanted to find a way to put the rings in without it being an engagement. Thank you for taking the time to review. Thank you for picking up on the FBI error, I cannot believe that I missed it! It was in my plan notes but my brain apparently did not function as it was supposed to.**

 **TamTam86 - Thank you for your review! I am so glad that you found the story. It am glad that you haven't read anything like it because that sounds like a good thing. ;) I can confirm that Jane will not react well when she gets hold of Hoyt but I hypothesise that you already know that. The next chapter will be a huge step towards finding little Allie.**


	22. New Year's Day - Part I

The wooden cabin was silent other than the occasional coughing that could be heard; the coughing was becoming worse and much harsher as time progressed.

"Shut up!", Charles Hoyt yelled loudly as he sat on a torn up couch that sat in the living room in front of the television.

The only response was silence.

Outside was a man who seemed rather large and was wearing jeans and a t-shirt whilst he smoked a cigarette with a partially empty beer can sat beside him. On the floor in front of him as he sat on the porch steps were multiple cigarette butts and a couple of empty beer cans.

In front of the house was a black flatbed truck with only two doors but that of which could seat five with three in the back and two in the front. Inside of the truck there were a few weapons along with some empty beer cans, a pack of cigarettes and a small stuffed toy along with a bottle of water.

Another cough could be heard and it sounded like a choke which made it obvious that they had attempted not to cough after being yelled at for it previously.

Downstairs from the ground floor, down a set of slightly unstable wooden stairs and was a dark cellar room with only a small lightbulb swinging from the roof. The floor was only dirt and the dirt seemed to be disturbed whilst there was a rectangular hole in the ground on the far side and away from the staircase. The room was damp and dark without any personalisation or welcoming aspects. The walls were also dirt and only held up by the wooden structure that held the house up to allow the gap beneath it.

Closer to that hole, the coughing could be occasionally heard but it was much louder whilst standing in that basement and the sound of wheezing could also be heard.

Inside the hole was what appeared to be a bundle of blankets but in reality it was only one blanket. One blanket that covered a curled up little girl. That sole blanket was the only thing keeping her warm and protecting her from the cold, damp basement room.

She coughed violently, her body wracking with the force of the coughing and she groaned slightly as she shivered.

The man got up from the sofa and stormed towards the door of the basement, his heavy boots hitting the ground of the living room as he walked.

The ill child peered out from beneath the tattered and dirty blanket in order to look at the roof of the cellar room, her eyes widened with fear. Light suddenly filtered into the room as the door was opened, resulting in the child quickly hiding beneath the blanket once more and attempting to hide whilst making a brave attempt not to cough or make a sound. The wheezing however was something that she simply didn't know how to stop.

The sound of boots hitting the wooden steps could be heard echoing around the basement as the man made his way down them and towards the basement floor. She could hear him approaching her and she shivered with cold as well as from fear.

He pulled a camera from his pocket and began to record the little girl who lay helpless in the cold dirt hole that he had ordered one of his female victims to dig months previously.

"Get up", he demanded as soon as he was beside the hole in the ground, the hole that resembled a grave, "Get up and show _Detective Rizzoli_ how ill you have become because she has failed to find you", he almost spat her name.

The little girl shook but did not move at all.

Her lack of movement angered him, "Get up!", he demanded as he repeated his request in a louder and more forceful tone of voice.

Gradually, the child removed the blanket from her shivering form and sat up on the dirt floor.

Her face was pale as she looked up at him as well as at the camera. Her eyes slightly pink yet sunken, and she had tears residing upon her cheeks whilst her eyes glistened with more that were yet to be shed. She wore pyjamas that seemed to be too small for her, the trousers were swinging at least an inch above her ankles whilst the sleeves of the top failed to meet her wrists or the top of her trousers, causing her stomach to be slightly showing.

It was clear that the child was underweight and malnourished by the appearance of her overly thin frame and dry, almost scaly skin.

Despite the nightwear being too small for her, the little girl had barely grown since being taken from her home just over a year previously which suggested that the pyjamas were already too small when they were given to her. She had lost weight over the time she had been held captive, that much was obvious.

"Get out of there", Hoyt demanded rather harshly.

She was having issues with her concentration as well as paying attention and her reaction times seemed to have been slowed but whether that was due to malnutrition or her illness was uncertain.

"Alessandra!", the voice boomed, again echoing around the rather dark and damp room, "I told you to get out of there".

Slowly the little girl nodded before she moved to follow his orders, she seemed to be off balance as she struggled to climb out of the two feet deep grave-like hole in the dirt floor of the basement room.

The camera was placed on a small table at the side before the silver haired man reached down and yanked her up by her arm making her squeal slightly at the pain from the forceful movement.

She scrambled up as she was forced to stand by the man, when she stood her chest moved up and down rather quickly as she attempted to force oxygen into her lungs. The wheezing was rather prominent and she could not help but cough rather violently as she stood shivering with her blanket still remaining in the depths of the hole.

"Santa", she said softly, "I don't…", a cough interrupted her speech for a moment, "I don't feel too good".

"Tell Detective Rizzoli", Hoyt demanded as he signalled to the camera although he was to the side and not seen on camera anymore, "Tell _Janie_ how you feel", his voice said her name as if he were something from a horror movie, taunting her.

The little one was crying, she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she looked at the camera just like she had done previously when she was ordered to, "I don't feel well", she said softly, her voice was quiet and timid, "I..", again she was interrupted with violent coughs that wracked her entire body.

"And what else?", the man questioned, prompting her to speak more.

Little Alessandra Mai Harmon was shivering and she was holding her arm, clearly in pain from the forceful tug that he had given her, "My chest hurts and…", she was struggling to talk, her breathing was irregular and she seemed dazed, "It hurts to breathe".

Hoyt smirked off camera, "Is there something you would like to ask the nice Detective?", he asked the child in a menacing manner whilst the word 'nice' seemed slightly sarcastic.

Her curls were tangled, clearly unwashed and were rather long resulting in them covering her face slightly as she looked down momentarily before looking back up again and towards the camera, "Please…", she was cut off again by her body's need to cough, "Please come and find me".

She was almost begging Jane through the camera, she had been forced to do it to begin with as she did not even know who Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli actually was but after a while she began to see the woman as a superhero that would come crashing in to save her and take her away from the mean man that she only knew as 'Santa' although deep down she knew he wasn't really the jolly old man from the books her mother would read to her.

Alessandra was wheezing and struggling to breathe as she cried in front of the camera, it was not done for the purpose of torturing the woman who would eventually be viewing the footage but simply because the little one did not feel well and that scared her.

Hoyt moved to kneel down in front of the camera so that he too was at the same level as the camera and that of the child. His arm went around her, putting pressure on her injured arm which made her squeal with pain, "Hurry", she said in an evil tone, "Hurry Detective Rizzoli, your time appears to be running out".

The last thing that was filmed before the camera was shut off was the little girl violently coughing, almost doubling over as she struggled to breathe.

"Get upstairs", he told her, his words were not questions and the little girl knew this so when her brain registered the demand, she followed it as hastily as she possibly could.

Alessandra however struggled to move up the stairs and stumbled as her eyes struggled to remain open.

The man was impatient with her, she had been coughing all night and he was angry that it had kept him from sleeping so he roughly picked her up with his arm beneath her back and another beneath her legs.

Her head lulled and fell against his chest, he looked down at her and paused as he looked at her pale face and tear filled eyes. He sighed heavily knowing that he needed to do something to make her better and partially wished that he had kept the last woman alive a little longer so that she could care for the child instead but it was too late for that. He had already killed the last woman and in that moment he decided that he needed another.

Hoyt dumped the little girl on the slightly beaten up brown sofa, in front of the television that had continued to play the show that he had previously been attempting to watch.

The man grabbed a bottle of water from the side in the kitchen and brought it back to the coughing child, "Drink it", he demanded, "It will stop you coughing".

Alessandra gulped down the water, grateful that she had something to soothe her throat but she knew that this act was not an act of kindness. She knew that soon she would fall asleep as she usually did when she was handed a bottle of water, only the cups of water would not send her to sleep. Even at the young age of four years old she knew that the bottled water meant she would have to sleep but now she had turned five she had become accustomed to it, the levels of Flunitrazepam seemed to increase as her body was becoming immune to its effects.

The effects were shown rather quickly as her body was weakened far too much by malnutrition and illness. The last thing she was before she fell into a deep sleep was the blurred image of her kidnapper.

As she slept, her kidnapper quickly sent the video to Detective Jane Rizzoli using his second accomplice who had been sleeping upstairs but had soon been abruptly awoken to carry out the task.

Hoyt walked outside, towards his accomplice, "You shut her up yet?", the man questioned.

"She should sleep for a while, I upped the drugs in her water", Hoyt revealed, "I'll be back later, if she wakes just give her more".

The man nodded, clearly used to his demands as he did not question them at all.

"Thought we needed another to play with", the evil kidnapper stated with a smirk as he referred to his victims as if they were toys to be played with.

His accomplice laughed, "Sounds good to me".

"I'll pick up some meds too, we don't want her dying before I get my prize", again he spoke with a smirk painted on his aging face as he spoke of Jane as his 'prize'.

Charles Hoyt was not keen on the last woman that had been chosen by his accomplice and given to him, so he decided that he had to go out and handpick his next victim himself. He also knew that he needed something to help the little girl because he needed to keep her alive long enough to use her in his plan. He needed her to not only taunt and torture the Detective but also to lure her in.

His plan was rather long winded which called for a high level of patience but he knew that the outcome would eventually be worth it. He planned to use the likeness of the child to the Detective to his advantage because he knew that if he taunted her long enough then she would feel a bond to the child. On the night that he murdered the majority of the Harmon family, he had also intended on killing the child but instead she awoke and mistook him for Santa, it was then that she realised the closeness in looks to the Detective that he loved to torture and taunt. He aimed to kill the woman known as Jane Rizzoli but not before torturing her with the death of Alessandra that he knew she would blame herself for. It was the ultimate torture.

Hoyt climbed into the truck, he didn't bother with a belt as he was far too interested in his task at hand. He needed another 'toy' to play with, he needed a woman to take care of his bargaining chip and he needed medicine to ensure she did not die before his plan was in place. He knew that confirmation of life was what would lure her and it was working better than what he thought it would as the little one seemed very good in her behaviour in front of the camera as she gave her emotional pleas towards the female Detective.

He pulled out of the dirt driveway, leaving the little girl behind with his rough accomplice as she lay unconscious on the battered sofa in front of the television in the living room.

The man drove down the road, eventually driving along the highway where he stopped off at a pharmacy to buy what he needed for the child that was held forcefully in his care. Hoyt grabbed the first cough medicine he saw, not particularly caring what age bracket it was made of or what type of cough it was designed for. He tossed it roughly onto the counter in front of the female working behind the counter before shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out the money needed for the purchase.

"That will be $8.25", the dark haired woman stated with a forced smile.

Hoyt assumed that the smile was only forced because she did not enjoy her job or she did not wish to be there at all but his assumption was incorrect.

In the back of the store, the manager was on the phone to the police as he informed them of who had just entered his store. The man had recognised him as soon as his truck pulled up and he got out, he had warned his assistant to act 'normal'.

The silver haired man looked around the store and saw nobody around, he saw that the manager seemed to be 'distracted' on the phone, or so he thought and he also took note of the fact that there were no other people in the store.

He took his chance.

He violently grabbed hold of the woman and yanked her over the counter by her long dark hair, forcefully pulling her towards the door. Suddenly the manager began to yell and came towards them but as Hoyt got outside, he quickly opened the door and shoved her into the passenger seat, slamming the door which hit her head.

The manager attempted to stop him leaving and as Hoyt neared the driver's door, he was suddenly surrounded by multiple law enforcement vehicles including the FBI's black SUVs.

Two rather strong looking men approached him whilst the others seemed to surround him and in that moment he knew that he had very little chance of escaping. At least for now.

"Agent Jackson, FBI", the larger man stated, introducing himself formally, "You are under the arrest". Agent Jackson then went on to read him his rights as well as the charges that he was being arrested on which included multiple counts of murder and abduction as well as torture.

Medics had already been called for the woman who he had attempted to kidnap and they had begun to search the vehicle for the little girl.

A female FBI agent shook her head when she looked towards the arresting agent, "She's not here", she stated.

The various law enforcement officers seemed to deflate slightly at that revelation as they had hoped to find her safely upon arresting the horrid serial killer.

"Where is Alessandra Harmon?", Agent Jackson demanded roughly as he gripped the upper arm of the kidnapper rather forcefully. The handcuffs had already been put on his wrists without care and were 'accidently' too tight.

Charles Hoyt smirked but remained silent.

"I said… _where_ is Alessandra Harmon?", the agent demanded again.

"Agent Jackson", he began, "Do you honestly think it would be that easy? That you could arrest me and I would lead you to the girl?". Hoyt laughed rather menacingly, sending chills down many spines, "I will only speak to Detective Jane Rizzoli".

 **A/N: Thank you again to everyone who has placed this story (and any of my others) into their favourite list or are following the story, also a huge thank you to any of you who have me on their lists. It is an honour to be shown such encouragement in my writing. I would also like to thank those who have been 'lurking' without reviewing, it is great to see people reading this as it shows that it is (or may be liked).**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for reviewing, I thought it was important to have Jane make up for the previous year despite her making attempts to the day after, a retake was definitely necessary. We needed a Rizzles New Year's kiss.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - The kiss was definitely needed. Thank you for your review.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you again for your kind review.**

 **Scolton21 - Neither would mine, I think that with angst you must throw in some fluff scenes too otherwise it depresses both reader and writer. I do hope that the ending to this chapter won't make you scream but I am not sure it is truly a cliffhanger… maybe it is borderline? Thank you for taking the time to review.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I am glad that the kleenex were not needed for two full chapters, I am not sure that this chapter is quite as 'kleenex free' as the previous two though because of the well being of Alessandra being at risk. Thank you again for your review.**

 **Tasheika. Conley - I wasn't sure whether to add in a kiss for those two but I am glad that you liked it. Thank you for reviewing.**

 **B. M. Adams - Thank you for taking the time to review this story. I can't wait to write Jane's reaction to the discovery of little Allie, we are getting closer!**


	23. New Year's Day - Part II

Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli was sat at her desk, she wore a blue t-shirt with her usual black suit and boots. She leant her head into her hands as she sighed heavily. Nobody commented on the heavy sigh that they had heard as nobody wanted to be at the receiving end of the woman's frustration. A beat cop had already made that mistake an hour previously. She ran her hands over her face as she looked up towards the screen and leant back in her office chair.

Downstairs at the entrance to the precinct was a man, a man who had a parcel in his hands and had been stopped by security. Two officers had hold of him, one holding each of his arms whilst another officer was stood in front of him.

"I need to deliver this to Detective Jane Rizzoli", the man repeated. The man appeared to be in his mid to late twenties and he had dark hair with brown eyes. He was refusing to give his name or what was in the parcel or even who had sent him. They did however have a hypothesis as to why he was there and who had sent him due to the case that was overtaking the Detective's time and attention.

Meanwhile, Jane looked around the bullpen, "Any leads?", the woman questioned as she looked over at Frost.

"Sorry Jane", the man said as he looked away from his computer screen in order to look at the dark haired woman.

The Detective groaned but before she had a chance to respond to her partner, the phone on her desk began to ring. "This better be a real lead this time", she commented with as she was beginning to get increasingly frustrated with dead ends and false leads.

"Detective Rizzoli", she answered promptly.

" _Hello Detective Rizzoli, this is Officer Jakobs", the man said politely, "We have a gentleman downstairs who refuses to give his name but he has a parcel for you which he claims is important"._

"On my way", was the only thing that the Italian woman said before she threw the phone down and hastily left her desk. Jane turned to Korsak, "Call Maura, get her up here. I'll be back soon".

Korsak looked up, "What's….", he never got to finish his sentence as she had already left the room before he had a chance, leaving him to call the Medical Examiner who was working downstairs in the morgue and gradually working through a pile of paperwork.

Impatiently, Jane hit the button to the elevator multiple times which as per usual made no difference to the speed of which the elevator arrived to the floor that she was on.

When the metal box arrived at her floor, she wasted no time in jumping in and again poking a button repeatedly with her finger.

It wasn't long before she was dashing out of the elevator door before it was fully open and making her way towards the entrance where security were waiting for her arrival.

When she arrived in front of the four men, one of the officers greeted her, "Detective Rizzoli", he said politely before indicating towards the man, "He refuses to tell us his name and wanted to give you this". He handed her the parcel, having already checked it for explosives as it was protocol.

Jane nodded, "Thanks", she said taking the parcel from him, "Send him to lock up and we'll deal with him later".

The officers removed him from the entryway and made their way down to lock up in order to throw him in one of the cells.

Jane on the other hand made her way straight up to the bullpen. When she arrived, Maura was already waiting for her and had taken her seat, sitting at her desk.

All three of them looked up at her as soon as they heard the sound of her shoes hitting the floor.

Doctor Isles was slightly confused as to why she had been summoned but upon seeing the parcel in her lover's hands, she suddenly realised why.

"This was delivered to the precinct", the Detective said as she made her way to her desk and pulling out a set of gloves, "It's addressed to me and the man who delivered it is in lock up".

The two men had stood up and were surrounding the woman's desk.

Carefully, Jane opened the brown package and tipped the contents out onto the wooden desk. A USB slipped out of the package and dark wooden surface.

Frost put on a glove and took hold of the USB, carefully. The man slipped it into the computer in order to show it on the big screen.

Meanwhile, Maura had put on gloves and slid the parcel packaging into an evidence bag for later inspection in the medical lab downstairs.

On the large screen, only one icon appeared and Barry Frost hesitated for a moment as he glanced around at the other three people in the room. Frost was sat in his chair, Maura was sat in hers and Jane was sat on the edge of her desk.

Jane gave a small nod, she knew it was a video clip but she wasn't sure as to whether she would be ready to see what it held.

Maura noticed the change in her girlfriend's body language and she reached her hand up to talk hold of one of Jane's.

 _"Get up", he demanded as soon as he was beside the hole in the ground, the hole that resembled a grave, "Get up and show Detective Rizzoli how ill you have become because she has failed to find you", he almost spat her name._

The Detective gulped visibly as she watched the little girl on the screen, one hand went to cover her mouth as she watched the video.

"Is...is that a…", Maura could not speak the word out loud as she looked on in shock.

Jane nodded, "A grave", she confirmed in a quiet voice, focusing on the video footage and searching for clues.

 _The little girl shook but did not move at all._

 _Her lack of movement angered him, "Get up!", he demanded as he repeated his request in a louder and more forceful tone of voice._

 _Gradually, the child removed the blanket from her shivering form and sat up on the dirt floor._

 _Her face was pale as she looked up at him as well as at the camera. Her eyes slightly pink yet sunken, and she had tears residing upon her cheeks whilst her eyes glistened with more that were yet to be shed. She wore pyjamas that seemed to be too small for her, the trousers were swinging at least an inch above her ankles whilst the sleeves of the top failed to meet her wrists or the top of her trousers, causing her stomach to be slightly showing._

 _It was clear that the child was underweight and malnourished by the appearance of her overly thin frame and dry, almost scaly skin._

 _Despite the nightwear being too small for her, the little girl had barely grown since being taken from her home just over a year previously which suggested that the pyjamas were already too small when they were given to her. She had lost weight over the time she had been held captive, that much was obvious._

"Pause the video", Maura demanded as she stood up, letting go of the other woman's hand. Her request was accepted immediately when Frost hit pause.

The medically trained woman stood up and moved to the screen, "Zoom in on her face". Again her request was carried out.

"She's ill", she commented.

Jane groaned, "We know that Maur'".

Maura turned and raised an eyebrow to her girlfriend, "Jane", she said firmly, "I mean she is very ill… take a look at her eyes".

"She's been crying", the Detective stated.

The Doctor nodded, "Can you zoom out again please Detective Frost?".

Detective Frost nodded before he zoomed out.

"And zoom in on her skin…", Maura Isles said softly, "Right...here". She pointed at a section of the footage. When he zoomed in, Doctor Isles looked at Jane before back to the screen, "Take a look at her skin".

Frowning Detectives looked at the screen, unsure as to what they were looking at, "It's… dry?", Korsak questioned with uncertainty.

Doctor Maura Isles kept her eyes on the screen, "It's a sign of malnutrition", she stated professionally, "It indicates that her illness may have been partially caused by an improper diet".

Jane ran her hand over her face in frustration, frustration due to the fact that they still had not found the little girl.

Maura turned and nodded to Frost to continue the video as she returned to Jane's chair to sit back down. She also returned her hand to her girlfriend's grip.

 _"Get out of there", Hoyt demanded rather harshly._

 _She was having issues with her concentration as well as paying attention and her reaction times seemed to have been slowed but whether that was due to malnutrition or her illness was uncertain._

 _"Alessandra!", the voice boomed, again echoing around the rather dark and damp room, "I told you to get out of there"._

 _Slowly the little girl nodded before she moved to follow his orders, she seemed to be off balance as she struggled to climb out of the two feet deep grave-like hole in the dirt floor of the basement room._

 _The camera was placed on a small table at the side before the silver haired man reached down and yanked her up by her arm making her squeal slightly at the pain from the forceful movement._

 _She scrambled up as she was forced to stand by the man, when she stood her chest moved up and down rather quickly as she attempted to force oxygen into her lungs. The wheezing was rather prominent and she could not help but cough rather violently as she stood shivering with her blanket still remaining in the depths of the hole._

"No no no no", Jane mumbled as she watched the little girl cough violently, "This can't be happening".

Frost paused the video at his partner's distress.

"She's just got a cough", Korsak commented, "Probably flu, she…".

Jane shook her head, "She was born prematurely, her lungs weren't developed fully and she…".

Maura completed the other woman's sentence as she had trailed off, "She is prone to infections in her respiratory system", she stated, "We need to find her… and quickly".

Frost took that as his sign to continue the video so he hit the play button quickly in order to carry on playing the video.

 _"Santa", she said softly, "I don't…", a cough interrupted her speech for a moment, "I don't feel too good"._

 _"Tell Detective Rizzoli", Hoyt demanded as he signalled to the camera although he was to the side and not seen on camera anymore, "Tell Janie how you feel", his voice said her name as if he were something from a horror movie, taunting her._

"She thinks he's Santa?", Frost questioned as he momentarily paused the footage yet again.

Korsak tilted his head looking at the screen with the frozen child showing on it, "She was taken on Christmas Eve so maybe she thought it was Santa…it explains why he was able to take her so easily".

The video footage was again continued by the homicide detective.

 _The little one was crying, she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she looked at the camera just like she had done previously when she was ordered to, "I don't feel well", she said softly, her voice was quiet and timid, "I..", again she was interrupted with violent coughs that wracked her entire body._

 _"And what else?", the man questioned, prompting her to speak more._

 _Little Alessandra Mai Harmon was shivering and she was holding her arm, clearly in pain from the forceful tug that he had given her, "My chest hurts and…", she was struggling to talk, her breathing was irregular and she seemed dazed, "It hurts to breathe"._

"Pause it Frost", Jane said quickly before turning to her girlfriend, "Any idea what's wrong with her arm? Do you think it was broken when he pulled her up?".

Maura Isles paused, hesitating in the concept of guessing, "Without an X-Ray I can't be sure…", she said softly before sighing, "However it is possible that it is either broken or fractured. The angle that she was pulled up would suggest a spiral fracture".

"Great", she said sarcastically, "So she has a possible broken or fractured arm and might be dying because she can't breathe!".

Maura gave a gentle squeeze to the woman's hand in a movement in order to try to comfort her, "We'll find her".

Jane bit her lip but failed to reply as the man controlling the video footage hit play once more.

 _Hoyt smirked off camera, "Is there something you would like to ask the nice Detective?", he asked the child in a menacing manner whilst the word 'nice' seemed slightly sarcastic._

 _Her curls were tangled, clearly unwashed and were rather long resulting in them covering her face slightly as she looked down momentarily before looking back up again and towards the camera, "Please…", she was cut off again by her body's need to cough, "Please come and find me"._

 _She was almost begging Jane through the camera, she had been forced to do it to begin with as she did not even know who Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli actually was but after a while she began to see the woman as a superhero that would come crashing in to save her and take her away from the mean man that she only knew as 'Santa' although deep down she knew he wasn't really the jolly old man from the books her mother would read to her._

 _Alessandra was wheezing and struggling to breathe as she cried in front of the camera, it was not done for the purpose of torturing the woman who would eventually be viewing the footage but simply because the little one did not feel well and that scared her._

A stray tear slipped down the side of Jane's face, she was blaming herself and that much was quite evident in her facial expressions.

Maura sniffed and wiped at her own tear filled eyes where some salty drops were attempting to escape the confinement of her eyelids.

Korsak and Frost looked on at the footage, both were horrified by the state of the child and were worried about the female detective as well as the medical examiner.

 _Hoyt moved to kneel down in front of the camera so that he too was at the same level as the camera and that of the child. His arm went around her, putting pressure on her injured arm which made her squeal with pain, "Hurry", he said in an evil tone, "Hurry Detective Rizzoli, your time appears to be running out"._

 _The last thing that was filmed before the camera was shut off was the little girl violently coughing, almost doubling over as she struggled to breathe._

Jane's hand was covering her mouth in shock whilst the other held onto her girlfriend's. "We better hurry then", she stated as she glanced towards her colleagues.

Detective Rizzoli turned towards Frost, she seemed to have taken over but knew that the FBI still had the majority of power over the case, "Korsak could you call the FBI to interrogate the man we have in lock up".

Vince Korsak nodded, "Sure", he said before picking up his phone to begin dialing the correct number.

The Italian woman turned towards Frost, "Can you get the video analysed? Maybe we can work out some sort of location or hint as to where she is?", it was wishful thinking and they all knew it.

Barry Frost nodded in confirmation before turning towards his computer, beginning to hammer away at the keyboard in front of him. He would send it to a few other computer analysts too so that each could do their part on the case including Nina.

Lastly, she turned towards her girlfriend and tugged her up in order to get her to stand up. Jane wrapped her arms around Maura and held her close in a reassuring motion. Maura leant into her, "I'll go and process the packaging", she said softly before gradually extracting herself from her arms.

"In a minute", Jane said quietly, tugging her back into her embrace.

Maura realised that Jane needed her in that moment and so remained in the rather tight embrace of her lover.

"Er...Jane", Korsak said as he placed his phone back into its cradle whilst looking towards the dark haired woman.

Jane Rizzoli turned to look at him, her arms still securely wrapped around the honey blonde medical examiner as she listened to what he had to say.

The aging man glanced around quickly before returning his attention to the Italian woman, "The FBI have made an arrest", he stated, "They arrested Hoyt outside of a pharmacy a little under 40 miles from here".

"And Allie?", Jane questioned hastily with slightly widened eyes, filled with pure worry.

Korsak sighed heavily and shook his head, "Sorry Jane", he stated with regret, "She wasn't with him. They searched nearby and are extending their search range but so far they haven't found any sign of her".

Jane Rizzoli groaned and rest her head momentarily on top of Maura's head.

"Do you think he was getting medication for Allie?", Maura questioned softly.

Detective Rizzoli's eyes widened slightly, "If he was getting medication then that means she is either alone or with goodness knows who and there isn't any medication or help… she…", she paused, "Oh God".

Vince Korsak quickly diverted the woman's attention by completing his message to the woman, "The FBI are bringing him here", he said as he watched the reaction of the woman in front of him, "Hoyt is refusing to answer their questions and says he will only speak to you".

Jane nodded.

"I'll take this down to evidence and then I'll be back", Maura Isles told her girlfriend as she gradually pulled away from the woman in order to stand back.

Again Jane nodded, "Okay", she replied softly before she moved to sit down at her desk.

Maura left the room and walked towards the elevator, her designer high heels clicking on the hard floor of the precinct.

Jane ran a hand through her hair roughly as she picked up the photo that continued to remain upon her desk. It was a photo of Alessandra Harmon, the same photo that had remained with her throughout the process of the case.

The two men watched as Jane reached her hand to twirl the curly lock of the doll that she had again brought into work with her and placed on her desk. If anyone thought it to be weird then they did not dare say a single thing about it around the woman or even around any of her friends or family. A few people had made that error, one of which they were scared to make again.

 **A/N:**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for your review.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for reviewing this story, I agree… he is definitely a creep!**

 **Scolton21 - I am very glad to hear that no screaming happened. I agree, I would like to take her home too… so cute and so in need of a loving home. Thank you for your review.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Well I can't leave the story half finished can I? I will also finish off my other Rizzoli and Isles stories (and probably right others… although I will be doing a few that are incomplete and those that have been requested before writing new stories). Thank you again for your review.**

 **KSHAY89 - I agree, he is definitely disgusting! Thank you for leaving a review.**

 **Wigtmh - I am glad that you are enjoying the story, thank you for reviewing.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I am glad that no kleenex was needed, I can't promise that for the rest of the story however - apologies. Yes he may end up in that state… Thank you for reviewing again - I do appreciate it.**

 **TamTam86 - Thank you for your review. They needed their New Year's kiss and I think we do need the break from the investigation every now and then. I rather like to reply to reviews in order to show that I do actually read them and to show appreciation that people are taking the time to not only read it but also to review too.**


	24. New Year's Day - Part III

Jane was stood in front of the boards that still resided in the bullpen, the team refused to move the boards from the room until the little girl had been found and the information covering Jane's walls were only photocopies of the actual evidence pieces.

Maura was sat at Jane's desk, she was going over Alessandra's medical records and rewatching sections of the video in order to work out what sort of medical attention the little one might need when they found her. She had already handed off the USB and the packaging to a lab tech that she had called to collect it. The Doctor trusted her team to test it and analyse it but she also knew that she had something more important to do. She needed to plan for the little girl's return. She knew that it would give everyone hope, especially her girlfriend and even her.

Frost had copied the footage onto multiple USBs which was what Maura was currently using to diagnose the child and what he and Nina were both using to analyse the footage, the other analysts needed to get back to the other cases that they had been previously working on. So far there was not much information that could be pulled from the footage other than the date that it had been filmed and by what camera.

Vince Korsak had been in contact with the FBI and was running the mugshot of the man in lock-up through every database possible. "Got a match!", the aging man announced, "The idiot in lock-up is a Mr Keith Richards; he is 26 years old and he's a caretaker at the local school".

"A caretaker?", Jane questioned, "How an earth did he get that job?".

Korsak shrugged, "No idea but I'm going down to lock-up, FBI have just arrived".

"Have they got Hoyt?", the dark haired detective asked.

Vince shook his head, "No, they're bringing him in now, they said that they would call you directly as soon as they arrive".

Detective Rizzoli nodded in confirmation, "Okay", she said before turning her attention back to the boards that stood before her.

Doctor Maura Isles was writing notes in a writing pad that she had pulled out of the Detective's desk, she had been scribbling as she watched the footage again.

 _Long-term respiratory issues due to premature birth._

 _Respiratory distress. Cough. Wheezing._

 _Possible Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia? Pneumonia? Influenza ?_

 _Damp environment. Cold. Stress._

 _Malnutrition. Neglect. Physical abuse. Growth inhibited. Fatigue. Underweight._

 _Eyes - sunken. Crying - Fear? Pain?_

 _Slow reactions. Lack of concentration. Balance issues._

 _Chest pains - Lungs. Heart?_

 _Suspected broken or fractured arm - spiral fracture?_

She sighed heavily before she went back to the medical records of the young girl and read some of the reports.

" _Premature birth…respiratory complications...underdeveloped lungs...low birth weight... incubator...pneumonia...resuscitated…"_

Maura ran her finger over the black writing that was printed upon the white paper as she read what had happened at the little girl's birth and in the early days of her life. She knew what it meant for the child and she knew that she had respiratory problems that remained from her birth; that was shown even more as she read on through the medical records up until the day she was taken.

" _Respiratory infection...extra oxygen given...three day hospital stay…"_

Doctor Maura Isles paused over the words, sighing as she thought about how scared the little girl must have been as Alessandra had only been eighteen months old. She continued reading through the multiple doctor's visits and hospital tests until she reached an entry when the girl was three years old.

" _Home oxygen tank given… repeated respiratory infections...resuscitated…"_

She had already read the medical reports, so she knew that the child had been taken off of the oxygen tanks when her infections calmed down. When she went missing, she had not been admitted to the hospital or visited the hospital other than general check ups for approximately five months.

The medically trained woman continued to compare her notes from the video to the medical records that Jane had obtained from the girl's medical providers.

Suddenly the phone began to ring and the dark haired Italian woman spun around, her attention turning from the boards that contained the Harmon case evidence in order to look at the phone that resided on her desk.

Her girlfriend knew not to answer it.

Jane Clementine Rizzoli moved towards the ringing phone and hastily lifted it from its cradle before holding it up to her ear. "Detective Rizzoli", she answered simply.

" _Detective Rizzoli, this is Agent Summers from the FBI. I have been instructed to call you concerning Charles Hoyt", a female voice said through the telephone._

"Okay", she said quickly, "Which interrogation room are you in?".

 _The voice on the other end paused, "That's the problem Detective", she said softly, "He isn't in an interrogation room"._

"What do you mean he's not in interrogation?", the Italian woman said with fury in her voice, "Please don't tell me you've lost him!".

This gained the attention of the remaining people in the room as well as those wandering by.

" _No Detective", the woman replied quickly, "He isn't in interrogation because he has been taken to hospital due to a...fall. He sustained a minor head injury with possible concussion so we had to take him directly to the hospital in order to be treated"._

A small chuckle escaped from the Detective, "A fall?", she questioned.

" _Yes Detective", Agent Summers replied politely._

"Well pass on my thanks to whoever it was that helped him... _fall",_ she said with slight amusement in her voice as she was quite glad to hear that.

Maura found herself biting her lip, also amused but feeling slightly guilty at such a thought despite him deserving such a thing.

 _Instead of asking her what she meant or denying such a thing, she replied with, "I will make sure to pass that on Detective"._

Placing the phone back into its cradle that resided upon her desk, she looked at Maura, "Hoyt is in hospital after a fall at the scene", she said to her girlfriend, "He hit his head and has possible concussion so it looks like I'm interrogating him in hospital instead".

"We are", Maura confirmed with a smile.

Jane's eyebrow shot up, "Maur'...", she said with slight warning.

Maura Isles stood up from the desk, despite wearing heels she was still substantially shorter than her partner, "I am going with you Jane, whether you like it or not", she said firmly, "I want to help and you know I can help you". She didn't need to remind her that she could read body language and facial expressions as well as the fact that she was medically trained".

Frost was watching them out of the corner of his eye with interest as he knew that Jane would give in to the shorter woman.

"Fine", the Detective declared as she threw her arms up into the air in defeat, "But if I tell you to get out...you do it".

The Doctor hesitated but nodded, "Of course", she said softly.

Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli rolled her eyes, "Come on then", she said as she placed her hand at the small of the other woman's back, guiding her out of the room.

Maura smiled softly at the warm feeling of her girlfriend's hand resting on her back, she rather enjoyed the security that it gave her.

"Let Korsak know that we've gone to interview Hoyt", Jane told Frost, "If you heard anything about Allie call me on my cell".

Frost nodded, "Sure thing Jane", he replied as she left the room and he continued to analyse the footage that he was watching on his computer screen. He had to repeatedly pause the video as he struggled to watch it.

They were all hoping to find the little one alive and to see her in such a state was breaking his heart despite the fact that he was yet to meet the little one.

Alessandra Mai Harmon had managed to steal the hearts of the entire team as well as the other members of the Rizzoli family without meeting a single one of them; Jane more than anyone.

The two women made their way down to the parking lot together, Jane's hand remained on Maura's back as they walked towards the unmarked car. The dark haired woman climbed into the driver's seat at the same time as her girlfriend climbed into the passenger's seat. The keys were roughly shoved into the hole and twisted quickly as she started the car and the moment that Maura's belt clicked into place, her foot smacked down onto the pedal and they were on their way.

"Jane", Maura said softly to gain the other woman's attention, "Jane, I know that you want nothing more than to go in there and… and to".

"Kill him?", Jane questioned in an attempt to finish the other woman's statement.

Doctor Isles nodded, "Yes…", she said softly as she watched her girlfriend's body posture, "But you can't because he may be the only one who knows where Allie is".

The Italian Detective nodded with a heavy sigh, "I know", she commented, "I really want him to suffer everything that he has put Allie through and everyone else that he's harmed. I want him to die and bring him back just to do it again".

Maura nodded, "I know", she said simply, "And after everything he has put you through and everything he's done to Allie...it...it's understandable".

"But I want Allie even more", Jane said softly, "I want to find her more than I want to kill him".

Her girlfriend nodded, "I know", she confirmed as she placed her hand on Jane's upper thigh, "I know that feeling".

Jane's right hand reached down and took hold of Maura's before gently squeezing it in a comforting gesture, as the honey blonde gently said, "We'll find her Jane", and she paused before continuing, "We'll find her and bring her home…".

The dark haired woman nodded but did not return her hand to the wheel, opting to keep it in Maura's grip as she drove carefully - much more careful than she drove with anyone else in the car with her. She always felt the need to protect the woman who was sat beside her in every situation that they found themselves in - whether it was an everyday event or an event that they were placed in true and dramatic danger. Jane would do anything she could possibly do in order to protect her girlfriend and even before they began dating she would do the same. She had loved her for so long and so deeply that the concept of not protecting her never even crossed her mind. The concept of not protecting her was a concept that would only happen if Jane was dead and even that was doubtful.

When they arrived at the hospital, she threw the car into park and tossed the sign into the front of the car window to signal that it was illegally parked for a reason. She had after all parked in an emergency bay - one of the many.

Two doors slammed as both women climbed out of the car and then there was the sound of the locks clicking before both rushed towards the entrance of the hospital.

As soon as the two of them entered they were met by a female agent, she wore a black suit with a white blouse of which had ruffles in the front of it which showed through the gap in her closed blazer. She wore black high heels on her feet and her blonde hair was twisted up into an intricate updo and she had her badge on her waistband. "Special Agent Summers, FBI", she introduced herself to the two women, flashing her badge before offering her hand to shake theirs.

Maura was the first to offer her hand in return as she too introduced herself, "Doctor Isles", she said simply.

"Detective Rizzoli", Jane replied as she too shook her hand, "So where is he?".

"This way Detective", Agent Summers answered as she led them through the white painted hallways that seemed to smell strongly of disinfectant - a smell that Jane herself had come to detest. The FBI Agent walked quite quickly through the corridors, turning multiple corners as they passed many different rooms and departments.

There was an elderly man who lay in a crisp white bed wearing his hospital issued gown whilst hooked up to multiple machines, if you ignored the machines you would have thought he was simply sleeping.

In another room was a teenage girl who was sitting up and speaking to someone through the laptop that resided on top of her sheets. The girl seemed happy despite the fact she was clearly ill although not hooked up to machines, it was unclear what was wrong. She had clearly dyed her hair as it was a vivid shade of pink and she wore her own pyjamas rather than the horrid patterned gowns that were distributed by the hospital upon admission.

They also heard the sound of machines signalling that someone had flat lined and the sound of a child screaming. The sound of the child made Jane pause momentarily but with a slight tug from Maura, she continued on her way as she followed the blonde woman.

Soon the three women arrived in a more secure area where Agent Summers stopped, "He's in there", she said as she indicated to the door, "A security guard will be out here continuously but he can be in the room if you would rather". "He is refusing to speak to anyone but you and you alone", the woman said softly.

Jane nodded, "Right", she said, moving towards the door.

Maura moved to walk into the room, ignoring Jane's protests.

A smirk appeared on Hoyt's face as the two women entered the room, "Well hello", he said in a rather disturbing and creepy manner. He had a cut at the top of his head with two butterfly stitches pulling the sides of it together and a slight bruise was beginning to appear around the injury. On his face were a few minor scrapes and abrasions along with a small crust of blood that seemed to peek out from his nostrils.

Jane was quite grateful of whoever had helped the man to 'fall' but even more so as she looked at the man's injuries.

" _Janie..._ Doctor Isles...it's so nice to see you", he said putting a much creepier emphasis on the Italian woman's name and a sarcastic tone to his comment.

"Cut to the chase", Jane said firmly, purposely placing herself between Maura and Hoyt in a protective motion, "Where is Alessandra?".

He laughed at her demand, remaining silent as he opted to torture her further.

The furious Detective stepped closer to his hospital bed where he was sat up in the bed wearing the same clothes that he had been admitted it as they had not opted to offer him a gown. The hospital did not aim to keep him there very long as they intended on releasing him to the 'care' of the Federal Bureau of Investigation without any comment on his injuries or how they were sustained.

The medical staff recognised him from the multiple alerts; the wanted posters for the man as well as the missing posters for the child. He had no sympathy from anyone and they were not very careful or kind in their medical treatment on the man.

The nurse who placed the butterfly stitches on his wound took slight pleasure in the pain that she found herself able to inflict upon the monster that nobody could truly call human. Unlike other patients who would be admitted with such injuries, Hoyt was never offered even the slightest concept of pain relief.

"You know...this has been rather fun", the twisted old man said from his hospital bed.

Jane almost growled at him, "Where is she? You twisted fuck!".

Maura remained slightly behind the angry Detective, opting to keep her mouth closed as she watched her girlfriend and she did not even dare to comment on Jane's language. Maura despite despising the concept of cursing knew that the woman's frustration was expected and fitting in the situation that they were in. In fact the woman found herself cursing too - although in her head rather than out loud.

The psychopath laughed in a manic manner, "Oh Jane…", he said with amusement, "Have you not enjoyed our little games?". "I worked so hard leaving you all of those clues...each of those woman were so helpful to me", he revealed with a smirk, "Such a shame because little Alessandra seemed quite keen on some of them".

"Where is she?", the woman demanded again.

"Did you get the photos I sent you?", the man questioned, "I especially liked the one that I took on your doorstep". Hoyt laughed, "She was so relieved when I let her knock on your door but…", he shook his head, "I knew you weren't in".

"You bastard!", she yelled at him angrily.

His eyebrow raised with a smug smile, "You really let her down _Detective_ ".

Jane stepped forward with pure anger in her eyes at his comment, "Where is she?", her voice was raised with fury.

"She is safe", he replied with a smirk and an evil glint within his eyes.

"Safe?!", she repeated as she stepped even closer to her, so close that Maura had to adjust her position in order to see their faces, "If she was safe she wouldn't be with you!".

He simply laughed before the sound of the door opening and closing echoed behind them. Jane looked up and saw that it was a security guard, "I didn't call for you", she said to the man as she turned back to him. She made a mistake.

Jane turned back around when she heard her lover screech in order to see the armed man gripping Maura by her neck as he had his arm wrapped firmly around her neck.

Maura's eyes were panicked as she hastily attempted to pull the arm away from her neck but of course she failed to escape the strong man's rough grip.

Charles Hoyt took the distraction as his moment to grab Jane and pull her roughly onto the bed before forcing her into zip ties that bound her wrists. She had been momentarily distracted by the actions that were being inflicted upon the Medical Examiner by the man of which they thought was a genuine security guard.

"Surprised Detective?", he questioned as he laughed at her whilst she watched her lover struggle.

The false security guard pulled a taser from the back of his pocket and soon had it against the honey blonde woman's neck.

Hoyt grabbed a fistful of dark curly locks, pulling Jane to sit up, "You have to watch Detective", he demanded, "Our final game".

Jane growled at him in fury, her anger at hit sky high because not only had he failed to inform her of the whereabouts of the five year old Alessandra Mai Harmon but now his accomplice had a grip on the woman she loved and that scared her.

Maura knew that she was in danger but was focused on the fact that the serial killer had a grip on Jane. She was scared for Jane, just as Jane was scared for her.

The Detective screamed out as she witnessed the taser sending volts of electricity through her lover's body and she saw the woman's body flail temporarily before she went limp. Her body was slumped on the floor as Hoyt held a knife to Jane's neck to keep her from moving, "Isn't this fun?", he taunted.

The 'security guard' moved towards Jane upon his boss' command and grabbed hold of her before his boss moved towards the dazed Medical Examiner.

Doctor Isles found herself being forced to kneel on the floor, she was off balance and very dazed. She was silent, she could not speak or move on her own. She was very unstable and Hoyt was able to maneuver her as if she were a ragdoll.

It was very hard for Jane Rizzoli to watch the rough treatment of the woman she loved and as she watched a knife run lightly over Maura's neck along with the blood slipping out, she soon found the strength to fight back. She grabbed the gun from her holster and spun to smack the man in the head.

Hoyt was momentarily distracted and as he attempted to return to torturing the honey blonde, he was jumped on by the Detective.

Doctor Isles was pushed aside by the Italian Detective in a quick attempt to protect her from the psychopath who had been torturing her. She fell against the door of a small storage room.

Jane Clementine Rizzoli grabbed hold of the silver metal scalpel of which still had remnants of her own as well as Maura's blood on it and with her bound wrists she managed to thrust it down and into the aging man's chest. Her mind was focused on what he had attempted to do to her lover and she knew in her heart that he would never reveal the location of the little girl.

The scalpel was removed from the man's chest and reentered rather forcefully as Maura lay motionless against the wooden door.

The false security guard began to regain consciousness and he stood up from the ground, intending to kill the dark haired Detective. He raised the gun, intending on shooting the Italian woman who was pinning his boss to the ground with a scalpel in her hands.

Hoyt had blood beginning to spill from his disgusting lips as he smirked at her, "I win", he said, his voice rather quiet, "You'll never find her". Hoyt's last words were said purposefully to torture the female Detective, and she felt the weight on her heart grow even heavier.

Whilst Maura began to regain her functions, she tried to call out to Jane to warn her just as a shot rang out, echoing throughout the hospital room…

 **A/N: Okay… I know a cliff hanger is a little evil but I will make it up to you in the next chapter… I promise!**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - I agree, he definitely does not deserve to. Thank you for your review.**

 **Vbbneighbour - I am so glad that you loved it. Thank you for reviewing the chapter.**

 **Scolton21 - Apologies for 'killing' you, unfortunately no clues yet for Jane… although I did put a discreet clue within this chapter for the readers. Thank you for the review.**

 **Linda. S. Allen - Thanks for your review. I am so glad that you have enjoyed reading my stories - I am hoping to complete all of the incomplete stories that you listed as soon as possible. After completing this story I may concentrate on either Saving Maura or The Perfect World, which would you prefer? Thank you for the amazing compliments.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you so much again for your review.**

 **Jjswinnlive. Com - I am not sure what you mean… but thank you for your review.**

 **TamTam86 - Unfortunately because of the environment she is in and the history of health issues, she was highly likely to become ill after a while, especially without the necessary medical attention. It is a brilliant thing that the store owner notified the FBI but has it helped or hindered the rescue of Alessandra? Apologies but she needed to speak with Hoyt, although I would prefer her not to… it was necessary for the story and very important for the next chapter. Thank you for your reviews.**

 **I would also like to thank each and every person who has favourited as well as followed this story. It is amazing to think that almost 150 people are following this and almost 50 people have hit the favourite button; so thank you.**


	25. New Year's Day - Part IV

26 year old Keith Richards was a 'caretaker' at a local school and had dark hair along with brown eyes. He had refused at first to give his name whilst insisting that the parcel was for Detective Rizzoli but that had not helped him at all because Detective Vince Korsak had managed to discover the man's name rather quickly.

Agent Jackson entered the interrogation room with another male agent and both sat down in their seats with their back to the one way observation window/mirror. The second agent read out the details that he needed to for the recording before they started.

It was not long before the FBI agents had him confessing as to who sent him and more importantly… the address where Alessandra was apparently being held.

The FBI attempted to call Detective Jane Rizzoli to inform her of the information that they had found but it went to answer machine so they decided that they had no time to wait and instead a team were dispatched immediately to the location.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the hospital, Jane Rizzoli was lying on the floor with her hands tied together with cable ties and her chest moving rapidly.

Maura was slumped against the closet door, still struggling to regain her functions as she was clearly in shock.

On the floor near Jane was the dead body of Charles Hoyt, blood seeping from his cruel lips whilst his shirt was soaked in the same red substance due to the holes that the Detective had formed within his chest cavity.

Approximately one meter away from the two women was the deceased body of the fake security guard. The strong man was sprawled on the hospital floor with his gun within a few centimeters from his fingers.

Frost stepped forward and kicked the man's firearm away from him before kneeling down to check his pulse. Rather than checking that he was okay, he was checking that the accomplice was in fact dead and he found himself hoping he was.

Korsak moved to Jane's side to cut the cable ties away from her wrists in order to free her and Frost confirmed that the man was dead before also checking the disgusting serial killer that lay near Jane.

Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli wasted no time in moving to her girlfriend's side without taking any notice of her bleeding wrists or any of her other injuries but instead concentrating solely on Maura.

Doctor Isles leant into the secure arms of her lover and found herself clinging to her as tightly as she possibly could. The effects of the taser as well as shock was wearing off and Maura found herself able to gain more control of her body and to take in her surroundings.

"I love you", Jane whispered softly towards her girlfriend as she held her close and subconsciously rocked her in a calming manner, "I love you so much".

The honey blonde woman looked up from her position in the woman's lap and cupped Jane's cheek weakly but lovingly, "I love you too Jane", she said softly.

Both male detectives were communicating with the FBI concerning the events that had occurred within the walls of the hospital room.

Jane knew that if the two male detectives had not been there in time then she would not have been alive. The two men had gone to the hospital as soon as Korsak had returned from the interrogation room as he had not stayed there for the interrogation of the delivery man used by Charles Hoyt. Neither of the men had a good feeling about their female colleagues going to see Hoyt on their own as both felt quite protective over them despite the knowledge that they could defend themselves if necessary.

Throughout the event Agent Summers had been in a small reception room with a colleague only a small distance from Hoyt's hospital room, she had been under the false impression that the two women were safe with the security guard watching over them but she was wrong.

The two agents were called in in order to deal with the aftermath and immediately began notifying the rest of their team.

* * *

Agent Jackson had left the accomplice at the Boston Police Department's station and instead opted to travel directly to the given location with his team.

Not many words were spoken on the way other than what were absolutely necessary and they were unaware of the layout of the building.

The agents got out of the two large black SUV's before making their way to the property and surrounding it.

The building was a log cabin, it was very isolated and surrounded by a large wooded area but it was not that far away from the lake where the little girl had been photographed and filmed at. It was slightly derelict but liveable.

Outside, around the back of the house was a few large logs surrounding what seemed to be a fire pit - the agents recognised it from the footage of the little girl that they had previously seen. They knew that the little one had been there.

To the side of the fire, a little distance away was a plank of wood that had been tied to swing in order to create a roughly made swing with frayed rope. A small bear was abandoned by the side of it.

There were empty beer cans on the floor, scattered around the yard along with a couple of empty water bottles. Etched in the dirt floor was a drawing of a little girl with curly hair and a woman who also seemed to have curly hair, at a quick glance it would appear as if a child had drawn herself with her mother but upon closer investigation it was clear that the woman was a member of law enforcement.

In front of the house there was evidence that multiple vehicles had been there and mixed in with the beer cans were remnants of cigarettes.

There were not any signs of life.

The wooden door was tried but it had been locked, instead of wasting time searching for a key, the door was kicked in by a heavy boot belonging to Agent Jackson himself. The door easily fell away and hit the floor with a loud bang.

As the door hit the floor, the sitting room was visible. Some of the agents entered whilst some remained outside, surrounding the home. Inside the room was a tattered old sofa which was dark in colour and had material torn from its frame with exposed foam on the side of the cushion. The sofa sat in front of a small bunny ear television which resided on a small table. The wooden floor was dirty and splinters were visible as they stuck up vertically from the cold floor. There was nothing welcoming nor homely about the room.

The kitchen was basic but dirty, it was clear that the wooden cupboards had once been carefully made and intricately carved but they were now dirty and broken. The floor was the a lino floor that was peeling at the sides with tears in the material, the lino was supposed to be white with black diamonds but was now a dirty and disgusting mix of grey and brown. A small dining table was at the side of the room with an empty mug and a dirty plate abandoned on top of it.

Upstairs, the bathroom continued the theme of the others in the way that it was dirty with broken fittings. Broken tiled littered the floor with dirt splattered upon its surface.

The bath was caked in scum and it was clear that the shower was broken as it had come away from the wall and been abandoned in the tub that clearly used to be white.

The sink was in a worse state than the bath as it had remnants of toothpaste that had been spat into the basin that also used to be a fresh shade of white. The soap on the side was a lump of dirty substance that had clearly been used multiple times by the various occupants. A small toothbrush was on the shelf, it was a small blue brush that had clearly been designed for a child, beside it was another although its owner was much harder to determine.

On the dirty tiled floor was a tattered, damp towel which seemed to have dark marks on it but it was apparent that it used to be a medium shade of blue. Beside it was another towel which seemed to be a ruby colour but was also dirty and tattered.

Among the mess of damp towels was also a set of pyjamas - a pair that were recognised from the photos taken by the Harmon family on Christmas Eve the previous year, the same set that was worn by little Alessandra Mai Harmon who was four years old at the time that she was abducted by the same monster that cruelly murdered her entire family and took her from everything that she had come to know.

Multiple signs were telling them that the little girl had been there; the proximity to the lake, the fire pit from the video, the bear, the handmade swing, the child's toothbrush and the pyjamas that they knew belonged to the missing child.

Yet there were no signs of life.

Two bedrooms were upstairs, both were double bedrooms but both were also a mess despite barely having anything within them. Clothing was tossed on the floor and the beds were not made. There was evidence of adults but no evidence of children in either of the bedrooms.

It was the basement that took the agents breaths away. The moment they stepped inside, it was clear to them that the room was much colder than the rest of the cabin or even outside. They could smell the damp air and after stepping down the unstable wooden steps, their feet hit the harsh dirt floor of the cellar. Only two agents had gone down into the basement whilst another two searched the house and the others remained outside.

They walked around the basement, carefully stepping towards the hole in the ground. They could see that there had been more holes but that the others had been filled in. Inside of the hole was a tattered small blanket along with a dirty ragdoll.

Agent Maria Lopez opted to get a closer look at the grave like hole in the ground that she had seen the child within on the video footage that they had been provided with. She cautiously jumped into the two feet deep hole, a rather shallow grave.

On the sides of the wall she took note of the childish drawings and writing that were etched into the dirt.

The same drawing of the child with what was assumed to be Detective Jane Rizzoli on the wall. They knew that there was a strong chance that the little one had seen photos of the woman due to the press conference that had been given along with various newspaper articles. One of which newspapers were torn and left on the floor in the basement.

Another drawing seemed to be of the Harmon family together. The two drawings were at each end of the grave.

The side walls held names. The names it seemed of each of the female victims that had been there. They were all written in various handwriting styles, it was clearly possible that each of the names were written by the person whose name it belonged to.

 _Lauren Shepard… Alexia Ponti… Katherine Delaney… Laura Vause… Marcia De Pablo… Lucille Murphy… Josslyn DiNozzo… Cecee Hunter… Elaina D'Anton… Jennifer Bishop… Thalia Haines… Eliza Day… Charlotte Kent… Jennifer Prentiss… Stephanie Hargitay… Delilah Tattum… Grace Nichols… Susie Croft…Kiri Alberto…_

The problem was that only thirteen of the names matched bodies that they knew they had found.

As the female agent spoke her thoughts, notifying Agent Jackson of the missing women, their eyes went towards the floor of the basement and it was then that they knew that it was not just the child that had been kept in the dark, damp cellar.

They knew that the child had been there along with a multitude of victims.

Yet… there were no signs of life.

Whilst they were discovering the harsh reality of shallow graves within the basement, their colleagues were discovering a similar thing in the yard. Further back from the house were multiple rectangles of overturned earth, unmarked graves of women that had been brutally murdered at the hands of Charles Hoyt and his accomplices.

* * *

At the hospital, Jane was beginning to move to stand up and she offered her hand to Maura straight away.

"Jane", Maura said softly, carefully taking Jane's arm, "Your arms".

The dark haired woman shrugged lightly, "They're fine", she stated pulling them back as the other woman stood on unsteady legs.

Jane Rizzoli instinctively stabled her lover, holding her close. The bodies had been removed as they spoke.

It was quiet as the two women stood in the hospital room, the room where they both could have lost their lives.

Maura pulled back slightly in order to look her lover in the eye, "You need to get your wrists checked", she said softly, "In fact I think we both need to get checked out".

The Detective nodded reluctantly, "Okay", she agreed as she took hold of the shorter woman's hand.

It was then that a noise sounded, Jane whipped round to look behind her but found nothing there. Maura was looking in the same direction when they heard a cough coming from the wooden door in the white wall.

Instantly, Jane's arms let go of her lover as she rushed to the door, pulling at the handle and hoping it was unlocked. As the door was flung open the light flooded into the small closet room, killing the darkness that had once consumed it.

The room had once been a small supply closet but had not been used in quite a while, the shelves were now empty apart from a couple of empty plastic baskets.

On the floor, in the corner of the dark room was a little girl who was curled up and coughing. She curled up even tighter as the light suddenly burst into the room. She was shaking with fear and cold as she watched the tall, dark haired woman in the doorway.

"Maur', she's….", Jane Clementine Rizzoli was stunned and she paused, "She's here...she's alive".

Doctor Maura Isles moved to stand beside her lover and smiled brightly at the sight of the little girl in the corner of the room, her hand on her chest and tears in her eyes as she had wondered many times if she would ever get to see the child alive.

Jane knelt down on the floor, bringing herself down to the shaking child's height, "Hey", she said softly, "My name is Detective Jane Rizzoli and this is Doctor Maura Isles".

The little one did not move a single inch as the Italian woman edged closer to her, speaking softly and reassuringly.

Maura watched her with a small smile and tilted head as she observed her lover with the young girl.

Whilst the Doctor remained outside of the small closet room, Detective Rizzoli moved beside the little one, "It's going to be okay Allie", she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around her and gently tugged the girl into her lap.

Alessandra Mai Harmon only hesitated momentarily before she embraced the woman, although both Jane and Maura noticed instantly that the little girl only used one arm.

Jane remained seated on the hard floor, cradling the young girl to her chest with tear filled eyes. She was so relieved to have found the little girl alive and to be able to hold her in her arms overwhelmed her.

The Doctor slid down gradually to the floor so that she was on their level.

"Jane!", Frost called out as he entered the room, "They found the cabin but there was no sign of the….", he stopped speaking as he stood there looking at the sight that met him in the closet. He could not believe his eyes when he saw Jane leaning against the wall with the missing child in her arms, "...child", he finished his sentence.

Alessandra was attempting to hide against Jane, she had buried her face into the woman's curls and she was attempting to hide inside the Detective's jacket.

Jane moved in a protective motion to hold the little one closer and shield her slightly to make her feel safer and to counteract the sudden noise.

Maura smiled softly, looking up at him from her position on the floor, "You may want to call them back Detective Frost", she said gently.

The man was rather shocked at the sight of the missing girl and found himself nodding with a slight fish impression upon his face as he made his way out of the room.

Detective Rizzoli gradually stood up with the young girl in her arms and she stepped out of the closet as Maura also stood. Jane rocked slowly on the spot with the young girl as Maura Isles stepped closer to them, "Hello", she said softly as she reached out to stroke the girl's dirty cheek.

Alessandra flinched slightly but calmed rather quickly, allowing the physical contact from the kind looking honey blonde woman. Maura seemed quite happy that she was able to make that small connection.

Maura moved to open the door and the moment Jane stepped out of the room with the little one wrapped securely in her arms, they were met with shocked looks, smiles and whispers.

The missing child had been found.

Alessandra Mai Harmon was alive.

Jane did not want to be in that room for much longer than was necessary and she knew that Maura would feel the same but she also did not wish for the child to be in the room or even the small closet room any longer.

They were quickly led to a room in another part of the hospital that was set up for children, the bed was crisp and white with a softly coloured yellow blanket which were decorated with alphabet blocks in white. The walls were a lemon yellow colour and decorated with a border that was littered with children's toys. The blinds were white and so was the wooden furniture. There were a box of toys that resided in the corner with a couple of books on the side.

Detective Rizzoli attempted to carefully place the young girl on the bed with the aim to sit beside her but that failed when the little girl clung to her, refusing to let go. "It's okay", Jane said softly, "It's okay". "I'm not going to let go", she said softly as Maura stood nearby. Instead of attempting to put the young girl on the bed, she sat down herself whilst holding her close. She repositioned herself in order to lean back against the pillows as she cradled the little girl to her chest.

Maura Isles carefully sat at the end of the bed, watching the little girl.

A nurse stepped into the room, "I've just come to check over the little girl", she said softly, "My colleague will be in soon to check on the both of you".

Alessandra hid against Jane. "Her name is Alessandra", Maura said softly as Jane softly held the child to soothe her.

The nurse still stepped forward, "Hello Alessandra, my name is Mary and I'm your nurse", she said in a caring manner, "I need to check you over, okay?".

The girl's dark curly hair was matted and dirty, her clothing was the same small tattered set of pyjamas that she was wearing in the last video that they had been given. Her skin was clearly dry and dirty whilst her arm was being held at an awkward angle in front of her as she hid her face beneath Jane's mass of curls.

Alessandra was shaking slightly before she coughed violently, her body moving forcefully.

"Can I see your arm?", she questioned as she moved even closer, signalling to the arm that the child was cradling.

"Stop", Jane said quickly, putting her hand up to stop the nurse advancing.

The nurse nodded simply, "Okay, but I am going to have to check her".

The little girl was shaking her head slightly as Maura looked to the nurse, "Would you mind getting some water, please?", she asked politely.

Detective Rizzoli held the little girl close, "Allie", she said softly, "The nurse is here to make you feel better, okay?". Jane ran her finger down the little girl's cheek, as bright blue eyes looked up into hers, "She needs to check you over and make sure that your arm is okay", she said with a small reassuring smile, "So will you let the nurses and doctors help you now?".

Allie looked at her with fear in her eyes but she was silent.

"Will you let them help you?", Jane asked softly as she kept eye contact with the young girl.

"Doctor", she whispered very quietly.

Jane nodded, "That's right", she said softly, "We need to let them check out your arm and make sure that you're okay".

Alessandra shook her head as she repeated the same whisper but this time she put her hand out to Maura.

Maura bit her lip, "I…", she was about to say that she was not that kind of doctor but instead she gulped slightly before changing the course of her sentence, "Okay Allie, I'll check you over instead, would you like that?".

Detective Rizzoli smiled, seeming quite happy at her girlfriend's proposal.

The little girl seemed much more willing to cooperate with that idea and it was shown even more when she instantly presented her arm as it had been what the nurse had requested.

Jane smiled, "Good girl", she said softly.

Maura smiled and moved closer to gently take hold of her arm but the girl quickly withdrew it when the nurse returned to the room with a jug of fresh water along with a glass.

Once more the little girl was hiding against Jane Rizzoli, curled up and clinging to her.

"Thank you", Doctor Isles said gently as she stood to take the water from the woman and placed it on the side, "Would you be so kind as to bring me some supplies? Alessandra has agreed to allow me to examine her". "I am sure that you understand as she is very nervous and has been through a series of extremely traumatic events", the medically trained woman said with a professional air to the way she spoke.

The nurse attempted to protest but with one simple look from the Detective, she soon backed down and agreed with the Medical Examiner before leaving the room.

Maura sat back down on the soft bed beside her lover and the little girl, "It's okay Allie", she said softly, "May I see your arm?".

Alessandra paused as she looked towards the door but she presented her arm to the woman cautiously.

Maura smiled as she carefully took hold of the young girl's arm, "Thank you", she said softly.

Jane held her close and watched as her girlfriend ran her fingers over the child's arm. The girl flinched but did not remove her arm from the careful grip of the woman.

Maura was mumbling slightly to herself as she ran her hands down the girl's arm, she was cataloging aspects of the girl's arm and it made a small smile appear on the girl's face. The little girl had her head tilted slightly as she watched the woman in silence. "She needs an x-ray Jane", Doctor Isles said as she looked up at Jane.

Detective Rizzoli nodded as she watched the woman continue checking the girl over and the nurse returned to the room with a tray of various medical supplies on it, "I will leave this here for you ma'am".

"Thank you", Maura Isles replied with a polite and professional tone of voice which was much different to the soft, caring tone that she had spoken to the little girl in.

Once the nurse had again left the room, already having been informed as to who the two women were and so she knew that the honey blonde was medically trained and highly competent.

"Allie", she said softly, "Is it okay if I take a look at your chest?". The young girl had repeatedly coughed throughout the time since she had been rescued from the closet. Maura picked up the cup from the counter and offered the girl water.

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she said softly, "I...I don't want to go to sleep yet".

Maura frowned and Jane looked confused, then they both remembered the water bottle from the car and realised that she associated the clear liquid with sleeping. "It's okay Allie", Jane said softly, "This water won't make you sleep, it will just help your cough".

The curly haired child looked at the offered glass with slight mistrust but after a moment she reached out with her uninjured arm in order to take hold of it and with Maura's assistance she managed to take a sip of the freshly poured spring water.

"I'm going to have to test your blood next okay?", the woman said softly as she glanced towards the supplies beside them, knowing that the child would most likely panic if any other medical personnel were to attempt to get closer to her.

Alessandra was much calmer in the room with the door closed whilst it was only the Medical Examiner and Detective in with her. She looked at the supplies, following Maura's line of sight and she seemed to recognise what it was and what it meant so she put her uninjured arm out instantly and without hesitation.

Maura looked at the silent offer of the girl's arm and smiled softly before reaching for the gloves, "That's very good Allie", she said reassuringly.

Jane noticed a slight shake in her lover's hands as she pulled on the medical gloves, and she reached out to touch her hand, momentarily taking the hand from Alessandra, "You're doing great Maur'", she said softly, knowing that the woman was rather nervous to be practising on a live person and even more so on a young child. A young vulnerable and terrified child who had been through such harsh experiences.

The woman nodded briefly with a small smile before she prepared the necessary instruments and began to carefully extract the amount of blood needed for the tests, gradually filling the vials that had been left for her but without causing harm to the child. Despite the fact that she usually worked on the dead, Maura was very careful and gentle with the child.

"Now Allie", Maura said softly, "Do you remember that I said I would look at your chest?".

The only reply to the medically trained woman's question was a small nod and silence.

"Is it okay if I do that now?", Doctor Isles said with a smile as she picked up the stethoscope from the silver tray.

Again there was only a nod and not a single word was uttered from the child as she watched the woman warm up the metal disc with her hands.

Carefully, Maura leaned in so that she could lift up the child's pyjamas top and slip the end of the instrument beneath the material to press against her chest.

The little girl kept coughing every now and then which made the examination of her chest slightly easier as Maura was able to hear the internal sounds of the violent coughing. Occasionally Maura would instruct the young girl in what to do, so that she could examine the girl's chest thoroughly and Alessandra did not hesitate in doing exactly what she was told to do.

After a moment, Maura took the instrument away from the child and placed it onto the side, "I'm going to take these blood vials out to the nurse okay? Then we're going to take you down to get an x-ray on your arm so that we can make sure that it isn't broken okay?".

Each question prompted a small nod from the child but she did not utter a word in response.

"Maur'...", Jane said softly.

"She's going to need antibiotics and I'm going to suggest extra oxygen, at least for tonight", Maura said softly, knowing that her girlfriend would want an answer concerning the young girl's chest.

Jane looked a little relieved, "She's going to be okay…?".

Maura Isles nodded with a smile, "She's going to be just fine Jane".

The moment she heard that answer she pulled the little girl back into a tight embrace, relieved at the response that she had gotten from her lover and she held the child close to her chest.

"I don't believe that our necks will need attending to as they seem to be surface wounds but I am going to have bandage your wrists Jane", she said softly to the woman before pulling the necessary materials from the tray.

Jane did not object as her lover took hold of her wrists to cleanse and wrap the wounds caused by the cable ties. Alessandra watched with interest as they were carefully bandaged.

Once the two wrists were carefully wrapped in pristine white bandages, the little girl carefully lifted the only one she could reach up into the air, she lifted it as if it were the most expensive china that would break at any moment. Both women watched her with much interest as the child pouted her lips slightly to press a kiss to the surface of the wrapping, "All better", she said before burying back into the Italian woman.

Doctor Isles smiled softly upon watching the scene before standing up in order to take the tray out to the nurses desk that was right outside of the door, the children's ward was very small and private. It was the smallest children's ward that they had in the entire building and had been chosen for that very reason.

Jane was leaning back against the clean pillows whilst she held the girl in her arms, "I've been looking everywhere for you", she said softly to the small child.

Alessandra looked up at her, watching her with bright blue eyes.

She brushed a stray curl from the girl's dirty face, "I promise you", she started in a whisper, "I promise you that I will keep you safe from now on, nobody is ever going to hurt you ever again".

"But what if… what if Santa comes back?", the little one questioned with worry in the depths of her shining blue eyes.

The woman bit her lip softly, "He won't ever come back", she confirmed, "He's gone now and he will never hurt anyone ever again".

"Promise?", she asked softly, struggling to grasp the concept.

"I promise", Jane replied simply.

"Jane", Maura said softly after entering the room as quietly as physically possible, "It's time to take Allie down to get an x-ray done on her arm".

Jane nodded, "Okay", she said towards her girlfriend before looking down at the young child, "Okay Allie, it's time to go and get your x-ray done now okay? That way we can make sure that your arm is okay".

Alessandra nodded as the Detective lifted her up, it was clear to Maura that the woman intended on carrying her the whole way rather than putting her in a chair or taking her down in the bed.

Jane left the room cradling the child as she followed Maura. She refused any offer for a wheelchair and insisted on carrying the girl herself, she had promised to keep her safe and she was going to keep that promise. She had no intention on letting her go anytime soon.

Once they arrived in the room where the x-ray would take place, the technicians quickly realised that they would be unable to do anything without the Detective in the room with the child. They gave Jane the correct protective wear and permitted her to stand beside the table so that the child could be have her x-rays done. Jane kept hold of the girl's hand throughout the process whilst Maura watched from behind the protective shield along with the technicians.

Maura was able to look at the screen at the same time as the technicians and she saw the clear break in Alessandra's arm. She looked over to Jane and nodded her head in confirmation.

"You know what this means right?", the woman said to the little one.

Alessandra tilted her head in curiosity before shaking it in a negative manner.

Jane smirked, "This means you get an awesome cast in any colour you want and you can get people to draw on it as well as write messages all over it".

Maura laughed softly with amusement at her girlfriend's antics whilst the others smiled with their amusement as they too watched the Detective.

Upon the return to the little one's hospital room, Jane settled the little one in her lap once more and sat resting back against the head of the bed whilst her girlfriend arranged the materials and equipment needed for the casting of the rescued child's arm.

Maura was slightly nervous about it because she had not performed the task in a long time but she was the only member of the medical staff that the child (as well as Jane) seemed to permit near her.

"Which colour would you like for your cast?", Doctor Isles asked the child softly.

The little one looked at the range of colours that the nurse had brought in for them and seemed to examine them from a slight distance, "Red", she said softly.

Maura smiled, she was quite happy that she was able to help the young girl and even happier that she seemed to trust her. The child had been silent outside of the room or if another person was to walk in.

The FBI as well as the male detectives kept their distance and continued to wrap up the investigation, after all they did have a multitude of shallow graves to search at the property as well as evidence to catalogue.

"Then red it is", the woman replied with a smile.

"Red like the Sox", the child said quietly.

Jane found herself grinning at the little girl's comment, "You like the Red Sox too?", she asked despite already knowing the answer based on what was found in the family's home.

Alessandra's forehead scrunched slightly, "Of course", she replied simply, "Who doesn't?".

Her question was so innocent that it made both women in the room to laugh slightly which in turn confused the child slightly but she made no comment concerning their apparent amusement.

Maura gently cleansed the young girl's arm and it wasn't long before Alessandra's arm was carefully encased in a bright red cast which would protect her broken arm. The child was quite lucky as the break was clean and did not require any surgery to fix the positioning of the bones despite Maura's earlier concerns.

Maura continued to speak to the little girl throughout the process as she explained each and every action before she took it. Jane was slightly surprised at how well Maura was doing and how amazing her bedside manner truly was as the Medical Examiner always denied such a thing.

A knock sounded on the door and it made the little one jump visibly but within moments Jane was soothing her. Maura got up from the bed and stepped towards the door to open it.

The nurse had learned from her previous experiences in the room that she needed to keep her distance from the child because if she got too close then the child would become agitated and also because if she scared the child in any manner then he would face the wrath of the Detective who had taken it upon herself to protect the child from everything and anything. Of course the concept of facing the wrath of the Italian Detective was a rather frightening one for the young nurse.

"Doctor Isles, the blood tests have come back and have confirmed your suspicions", the nurse said politely, remaining beside the door and keeping her voice low, "There were high levels of Flunitrazepam found in her blood system, enough that it suggests long term useage of rather high doses".

Maura nodded, "Thank you", she said softly.

"Also the antibiotics along with fluids are set up on the IV pole and the oxygen has been set up too", the nurse informed the woman.

Doctor Isles nodded, "Thank you, I will see to that immediately".

Alessandra relaxed a little once the nurse had exited the room and quite comfortably curled up in the Detective's arms.

"Allie", Maura said softly as she sat on the bed as she began to explain the procedure that she would have to carry out and pulled the oxygen mask out ready.

The little girl was soon lying curled up against Jane, hooked up to the intravenous drip that contained antibiotics as well as much needed fluids and she had an oxygen mask over her face. Her cough was much calmer as she had been drinking more water and her breathing was helped a great deal by the extra levels of oxygen.

Maura pulled the blanket up to cover the little girl up before briefly leaving the room to call Angela in order to ask the Rizzoli matriarch to pick some things up for the child. She knew that Jane's mother would know exactly what the child needed and directed her to take the money from her desk to buy the things needed such as clothing, bathing products and whatever else the woman deemed necessary for the next few days.

When she reentered the room, she found her girlfriend fast asleep with her head resting on top of Alessandra's whilst the little girl leant hers on Jane's chest, listening to the woman's calming heart rate. Jane's arms were securely wrapped around the poorly dressed little girl and the little girl was mostly hidden by the blanket as well as Jane's jacket and her own hair. Through the mass of mangled curls was a small but dirty face of the little girl that they had spent over a year searching for.

Maura sighed as she looked at the two of them together. Alessandra had finally been found. She was safe. She was _home._

 **A/N: So… she has been found! I had to slightly rewrite my plan as I accidently went off track with the last chapter but oh well! There may only be another 5 chapters left but we shall see as I originally planned for 50 but maybe 30 is enough? That will be decided upon the completion of the planned 30 as my plan was slightly… altered.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Apologies for the cliffhanger but as I said… I made up for it. Thank you for all of your reviews.**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for reviewing! Woohoo! They have finally found her.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your reviews.**

 **Linda. S. Allen - Thank you for your kind review. I rather liked writing his demise although it was hard putting those two fabulous women through all of that. Okay, I will probably have to flip a coin or just go with whichever I have the most inspiration for.**

 **Scolton21 - So, did you get the clue correctly? The closet door! It was a slightly random thing to mention but then again it may have blended too well ;). Apologies for the torture and thank you for your review.**

 **Guest - Thank you for wasting your time writing a review and for apparently reading 23 chapters of a story you seem to hate. Firstly, to address the 'technical issues' I would like to remind you it is a fan fiction story and not an academic paper. Secondly I would like to highlight that I write for my own entertainment because I enjoy it, if other people enjoy it then that is a bonus but if you feel accomplished by leaving negative (and non-constructive) reviews then you may wish to seek medical help as it can be sign of psychological distress.**

 **TamTam86 - I was so glad to finally be able to write Alessandra's discovery and to write the reactions of both women to her. Thank you again for your review.**


	26. New Year's Day - Part V

The pristine hospital room was quiet, peaceful and calm as Doctor Maura Isles sat in a large chair with her legs curled beneath her. She was reading a medical journal article on her cell phone and had already arranged for Child Protection Services to come as well as for Angela Rizzoli to arrange the things that the child would need. The woman had also sent Angela a photo of Jane sleeping with the little one securely in her arms as she thought that it was an adorable sight that the Rizzoli matriarch would like.

Jane Rizzoli was still asleep, it had been approximately half an hour since she had fallen asleep with the exhausted child in her embrace. The Detective's head had slipped to the side and was resting on top of Alessandra's whilst her arms were firmly wrapped around the curly haired child in order to hold her close and keep her safe. One of the Italian woman's long legs was stretched out on the bed whilst the other dangled down to touch the floor slightly.

Little Alessandra Mai was curled up in the gap between the woman's legs, laying on the bed with the covers pulled up high and beneath the covers her hand was gripping the material at the side of Jane's shirt. Jane's jacket was also wrapped around the child, the jacket was only partially visible beneath the hospital issue blanket. Her broken arm with a bright red cast covering it was folded near her stomach whilst the little one's head was resting on the Detective's chest as she listened to the calming sound of the woman's heartbeat. Her mass of dark curls were covering the majority of her face with very little exposed and the parts exposed were rather dirty.

Slowly and quietly the door opened, Maura looked up at the slight sound as she saw Jane's mother enter the hospital room as quietly as she could. "Hello Angela", Maura said softly, in a hushed voice that was almost a whisper as she did not wish to awake the two who were fast asleep in the hospital bed.

As Maura stood up to greet the woman properly, Angela stepped forward and embraced her lovingly, wrapping her arms around her in a protective but gentle hold. "Oh Maura", the older woman said softly as she held her close to her, "Are you okay? I was so worried".

The Doctor nodded briefly causing Angela to feel the movement against her. Angela pulled back from the embrace and held Maura's arms gently, holding her at a slight distance, "I am so glad that you're okay", she said lovingly, "And my Janie".

Angela Rizzoli stepped away, letting go of the other woman and turning her attention towards the two people on the bed, "I'm so glad that you both managed to find her", she said with a soft smile as she watched the child sleeping in her daughter's arms, "I bet Jane was so happy to have finally found her".

Maura nodded in response to Angela's last comment before speaking, "She was", she confirmed, "I think we all are". She was still speaking at a rather low level, along with Angela, "It seems like it took forever", she said softly with her hazel eyes watching her girlfriend holding the little one.

"What will happen to Allie now?", Angela asked softly, wondering if she was right in her assumption that Jane and Maura would keep the young girl.

Maura kept her eyes on Alessandra, "I have spoken to CPS and they're on their way", she said quietly.

Angela did not have any time to respond to the woman as there was a soft knock on the door and Maura went to open it.

Jane stirred and opened her eyes, instinctively holding the little girl closer to her in a protective movement. A motion that was not lost on any of the three women who were now in the hospital room.

Alessandra was still sleeping, she had been utterly exhausted and she was still under the effects of the drugs. Her health issues were also playing a part in her state of fatigue.

"Hello, my name is Amanda Giddish", she said with a soft smile, the woman was wearing a crisp black business suit with a white blouse beneath it along with black high heels. Amanda had blonde hair that reached just past her shoulders and she had bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle slightly in the light. She was wearing minimal makeup and wore a simple necklace with a singular pendant. "I am with Child Protective Services, I was called about a Miss Alessandra Mai Harmon", the woman explained in a professional and polite tone of voice although it was not clipped or careless but instead rather approachable and caring.

Maura stepped forward, "My name is Doctor Maura Isles", she said introducing herself politely. She indicated to Jane before speaking again, "This is Detective Jane Rizzoli", she said with pride in her voice before moving on, "And this is Angela Rizzoli, Jane's mother".

The Detective watched her as the social worker nodded, her expression almost daring the woman to attempt to come closer. She looked like a Mamma Bear protecting her cub - and it was clear that nothing or no-one would get in her way to do that.

"Well it appears that you've had a wasted journey", Jane said, holding the little one close, "She isn't well enough to be leaving the hospital". It was Jane's way of also saying 'She isn't leaving my arms'.

The little one began to awake in the arms of the protective Detective and upon realising that two extra people were in the room, she curled up further towards the dark haired woman and gripped the material of her shirt much more harshly.

Amanda smiled softly, despite the cold attitude she was getting from the Italian woman, "Relax Detective", she said softly, having been warned prior to her visit that the Detective would be very protective, "I think you are very much mistaken, I'm not here to take Alessandra".

Jane frowned, clearly unsure as to whether or not to believe her, "Then why are you here?", she questioned as she rubbed her hand up and down the child's back in a soothing manner.

The blonde woman smiled at the protective gestures that the woman was showing, "I received a call from Doctor Isles' and she requested that you were both wishing to become the legal guardians of Alessandra", she said quite happily. "Of course there is a lot of paperwork to go through but I was contacted by Doctor Isles' lawyer who has already begun proceedings for the two of you to adopt her".

Jane's jaw almost dropped and she looked at her girlfriend in shock. Maura simply smiled in response.

"Of course that would mean that she would have to go into a group home until the proceedings are complete", Amanda explained, "Which is why I decided that I should come down to the hospital myself in order to bring you the documents necessary for you both to become foster parents. It would mean that Alessandra can leave the hospital and go directly into your care. I think it would be much more beneficial to her".

The Italian Detective nodded, "Thank you", she said softly, still in shock. She looked down at the little girl in her arms and cradled her closely, she reached a hand up to brush her hair from her face, "Did you hear that Allie?", she asked quietly.

Alessandra was silent, her bright blue eyes watching the Detective carefully but she only blinked once.

"She said that you can come home with us", Jane explained happily, "Would you like that?".

The little one still remained silent, her expressive eyes observing the woman as her head tilted ever so slightly to the side. She nodded briefly and blinked but there was no verbal response at all. Not a single word slipped from the young child's lips.

Jane leaned forward in order to press a gentle and loving kiss to the child's forehead.

Maura moved to sit beside the little girl, she wanted to hug the child but was unsure as to how the girl would react. Instead she brushed a curl from Alessandra's face and smiled lovingly towards her.

Alessandra was watching the woman closely, the little one opted to take the decision of hugging out of Maura's hands and chose to hug the honey blonde woman of her own free will. Her good arm was wrapped partially around the woman whilst the injured one lay limp in the white sling.

Doctor Maura Isles instantly wrapped her arms around the child without hesitation, holding her close with tears in her eyes as she was simply so glad that the little one trusted her enough to allow contact and even more so to initiate it. Maura understood that the trauma that the child had gone through could affect the way in which she communicated with others as well as how much contact she would be comfortable with especially seeing the violent way that Hoyt had yanked her from the hole in the ground on the video that they had been sent.

Jane watched on with a smile painted across her Italian features and a happy sparkle in the depths of her eyes as she watched her girlfriend with the little one.

The blanket had slipped down and so had Jane's blazer which left the little one exposed to the air but Maura held her close, keeping the little one warm with the heat of her own body. She ran a hand over the matted locks of the small girl as she spoke softly, "How about we get you washed up? Then we can all have something to eat, get some sleep and in the morning we can all go home".

Alessandra Mai leaned back ever so slightly in the woman's embrace in order to look up into her hazel eyes but again she remained perfectly silent and without making a single sound, she nodded. The movement was short and small, if you were not looking for it then you would have quite easily missed it completely.

Maura knew however, as did Jane, that they were not likely to get a verbal response from the child if they had an audience like that did in that moment. They knew that the little girl would most likely feel uncomfortable and uncertain.

Amanda stepped forward slightly although not close enough to be a threat, "If you both sign these papers then I will get out of your way so that you can get on with your bath and dinner", she said softly whilst offering Jane the clipboard with a pen attached to it.

Jane nodded as she took hold of the clipboard and signed it quickly, "Thank you", she said to the tall blonde woman with a smile, it was genuine and the social worker could tell that this woman was going to be a great mother to the terrified little girl who was partially in the Doctor's arms.

Once she had signed the paperwork herself, she leaned forward and gently tugged the child to come back into her arms, "Come here Tesoro", she said softly, using the Italian term for 'Sweetheart' rather than the English. Jane knew already that Italian was a language that was spoken within the Harmon household and that the little girl would understand it although the slip of the word 'Tesoro' was not a conscious one.

Angela Rizzoli smiled as she watched her daughter, she was quiet as she observed the maternal behaviour that Jane was exhibiting and her smile grew upon hearing the Italian word spill from the Detective's lips.

Alessandra moved back into the Detective's embrace and was soon wrapped in the woman's arms as well as her blazer.

Maura leaned forward and kissed the girl's forehead before signing her name, the black ink quickly marking the white legal papers that would permit them both to become foster parents for the little girl that had stolen their hearts.

Amanda Giddish smiled happily as she took the black clipboard back from the honey blonde Chief Medical Examiner, "I will go back to the office and file these straight away", she said as she spoke to two women but also glancing towards the little girl hiding her face in the Detective's hair.

"Thank you", Maura said politely towards the blonde woman, knowing that the woman had dropped what she was doing in order to get the papers to them as quickly as possible. It meant more to the two women than they could possibly verbalise.

The blue eyed Social Worker knelt down near to the bed, causing Jane to watch her intently. She extracted a small bear from her bag and a lollipop, "These are for you", she said softly to Alessandra, the bear was part of a programme that was being piloted where batches of bears were sent to social workers in order for them to hand out to children who have experienced trauma and the lollipop was something that she tended to do herself quite a lot - she truly loved to put a smile on a child's face.

At first the young girl hesitated, she watched from the safety of Jane's embrace, hidden mostly by the woman's hair but then she did something that neither Jane nor Maura expected her to do. Alessandra reached out for the two items with her good hand instead of pulling away from the woman.

Amanda smiled at the little one, Alessandra was sat up slightly, she had revealed more of her face but was still against the Detective.

Allie watched the woman for a moment then looked at the small brown bear that was sat on the bed in front of her with a brightly coloured red lollipop. She remained perfectly silent, not uttering a single word. She did however communicate in her own way. The curly haired child lifted her right hand and flattened it before touching it to her own lips, she then moved it away in a downwards angle in Amanda's direction. She was using sign language to say 'Thank you'.

The Social Worker was still kneeling down near the bed, she smiled brightly, recognising what the child was doing, "Will I hear that adorable voice of yours?", she asked gently.

The little one glanced around, seemingly thinking about it but when her eyes returned to the thin blonde woman who knelt before her, she did not nod nor did she shake her head and she definitely did not speak or make a sound. Instead she simply blinked twice.

"Maybe one day", the kind woman said with a smile, "I'll be back to check on you when you get settled into your new home".

The woman spoke briefly to Maura and Jane about arranging a home visit before leaving the hospital room so that she could return to her office.

Angela stepped forward, embracing Maura enthusiastically, clearly she was excited about the news, "Congratulations", she said happily, "I've always wanted a granddaughter".

Jane simply laughed softly and shook her head lightly as she held the little one close to her.

Maura smiled happily, "Thank you Angela", she said happily as she returned the embrace, rather excited herself to be able to take the little girl home with them although knowing that it would most likely take the child a while to adjust and for them everything to fall into any form of normality.

Alessandra watched the energetic and enthusiastic Italian matriarch with slightly widened eyes, her head pulled back slightly as she observed her behaviour.

Next the older woman went to hug her daughter but upon seeing the look on the child's face, opted to instead simply cup her daughter's cheek instead, "Congratulations Janie", she said in a slightly quieter tone of voice as to not freak the little girl out or cause her any more anxiety than she was already suffering, "I knew you could do it. I knew you could bring her home".

"Thanks Ma", she said with a smile before she reached out and gave a gentle squeeze to her mother's hand.

Angela knelt down beside the bed, much in the same way that Amanda Giddens had done previously, "Hello Allie", she said with a loving and caring tone of voice, "I'm Angela, Janie's Mother".

Her introduction made the little girl tilt her head slightly but she remained silent and only blinked in response.

The older woman was patient and understanding with the traumatised child who was curled within her daughter's protective grasp. She did not introduce herself as the girl's grandmother or nona or anything of the sorts because she did not want little girl to feel pressured or forced. She did however know that she already loved her new granddaughter, although she had felt rather fond of the little girl previous to meeting her as she had seen the photo that Jane carried with her multiple times and had heard her daughter speak of the little one many times over the past year.

"I brought you some things with me", the older woman said softly, "Maura said that you might need them". She glanced at Maura with a smile, before returning her attention to her soon to be adopted granddaughter, "There are lots of bubbles in there for your bath and some fresh pyjamas too".

Jane looked at the little girl, touching her chin slightly to get her to look up, "I think it's time for your bath and when you get out you can have something to eat".

"Would you like me to order something from Mario's? I'm sure they won't mind delivering to the hospital", Angela said with a smile as she got up to grab the bag from the top of the cabinet.

Detective Rizzoli nodded, "That would be great Ma", she said softly as she stood up. "Come on then Allie, I think it's bath time".

Silence was again the response that was given when she was spoken to, she did however seem to acknowledge the words as she watched the woman as she spoke.

Maura moved towards the ensuite bathroom and began to run the taps to create the necessary temperature that she needed.

Angela handed the bag to Jane as her daughter walked towards the bathroom with Alessandra on her hip.

"Thanks Ma", Jane said with a smile towards her mother before leaning forward to kiss her cheek.

Alessandra watched, saying nothing but did not flinch nor act in fear at the close proximity that it caused her to be at with the other woman.

Jane knelt down on the bathroom floor with the child in her arms before standing her on the ground. She spoke softly to the child as she explained every movement to her. She soon had the child undressed and in the warm bath which was filled with a large amount of bubbles. Maura had misjudged slightly how much of the liquid would be needed for the little girl's bath resulting in the bubbles to be almost as deep as the water.

Maura was the one to carefully wash the child's hair, Alessandra did not object but neither did she respond very much to the action other than to smile softly for a brief period of time.

The Detective repeatedly pulled funny and unusual faces in the direction of the curly haired child which kept making her laugh and giggle. The first time she laughed caused grins to spread across both women's faces and it made Jane want to do it over and over again. Jane seemed quite proud of her achievement.

Angela was sat on the chair in the hospital room, listening to the sounds of laughter flowing out of the open door of the bathroom and could not help but smile happily. She was glad to hear the little one's laughter as for a while she along with many others had worried that they would never get to meet the little girl who seemed to have captured the Detective's heart from the start of the case.

It was not long before the freshly washed child had her dried and was dressed in new pyjamas with new socks and wrapped in a new blanket. Her new pyjamas were long sleeved with long trousers so that she would be warmer when she slept and they were pure cotton so that they would be soft on her delicate skin. The nightwear was decorated with pink and purple butterflies and matched the light pink socks that covered her feet. Her curls were no longer knotted and were now more distinctive. The dirt was gone from her face and it revealed a pale, malnourished child with a small scratch to the left of her forehead and an old bruise to her right cheek.

Jane had the little one wrapped in her arms as she moved back to the bed which had fresh sheets on it as Angela had requested that they were changed when she realised that the dirt from the child's clothes had gotten onto the bedding.

Once the food had been delivered and they had all eaten something, one pizza box was put on the side with the leftovers within it whilst the other was thrown away. The little girl had not managed to eat a full slice but Maura had explained to the two worried Italian women that the child needed to work up to eating a real sized meal as she was malnourished and clearly not used to larger portions.

Soon after the food had been consumed, Angela left and turned off the light on her way out at her daughter's request.

Jane lay down on the bed with the little one in her arms and put her arm out towards Maura. The Detective had pulled up the side of the bed so that she did not risk falling out of it.

Maura hesitated for a moment before climbing up onto the bed and copying the other woman's actions with the barrier on her side of the bed.

The Detective turned over, resulting in the little one moving to lay in between the two women. She was curled up on her side, sandwiched between the two newly registered foster parents as the blanket was pulled up over them by both the Detective and the Chief Medical Examiner.

Alessandra was safely tucked into the space between Jane and Maura, their arms creating a small cage-like structure over the top of her and her head against Jane's chest. It was the safest that she had felt in a very long time. Her IV line had been put back in after her bath as it had been taken out in order to make it easier for the child to bathe and the oxygen mask had also been returned to her face so that she would be provided with the extra oxygen that Maura suggested throughout the night.

Jane Rizzoli leaned down and pressed a kiss to her foster daughter's head, smiling as she smelt the soft smell of lavender that was a result of the shampoo and conditioner. Maura had suggested lavender to Angela when asking her to go shopping because of its calming and relaxation benefits. The dark haired Detective then leaned over to press a soft, loving kiss to the lips of the woman she loved.

Both women fell asleep, content to lay on the hospital bed with their foster child nestled in between them and looking forward to the next day so that she could be taken home with them.

 **A/N: Apologies for the delay, I was intending on updating sooner but I have been a little distracted with moving back to university. Thank you for your patience.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - You didn't think that there would be a chance that he would come out of this story alive did you? He simply had to die… Thank you again for your review.**

 **Xenagabbyrizziles, sweetkid45, Vbbneighbour, jjswinnlive, 'guest' - Thank you for your review.**

 **LoveIsles - I agree, there always seems to be at least one… although why someone would waste their time reading that many chapters if they hate it is beyond me. Thank you for your kind comments and for taking the time to review.**

 **Scolton25 - So glad that I can keep you on your toes ; ) What did you think the clue was? Glad that you liked it though. If I do finish at 30 then I will most likely do random one shot stories for this universe too as bonuses after I have completed my other stories but if anyone has any ideas for what they would like to see then feel free to comment/review with what you would like to see. Thank you for your review.**

 **Tamtam86 - I admittedly absolutely LOVED your review! It was one of the ones that I kept rereading! Thank you for reviewing!**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - I have many many Rizzles stories still written in my plan book that need to be fully written and published as well as the Rizzles stories that need completing on here. The newer ones will have to wait but… Rizzles will never end. I agree, Jane needed to be the one to find her which is why I knew that I needed to find a way for that to happy but I also wanted to throw a slight spin in the process hence the FBI** _ **almost**_ **finding her. The clue was a little… hard to pick up because it was such a tiny one but that was on purpose… I** _ **may**_ **have been teasing because I knew that if I was told that there was a clue hidden then I would go back and try to look for it. It was kind of like a little treasure hunt… I will consider the 50 mark, just for you ; ) I am so glad that you love it. Thank you for reviewing again, I always look forward to seeing what you think.**

 **Tasheika conley - I can't stand the man, so I agree with the destroying concept. I rather liked killing him off ; ) I would have extended it but I didn't want too much attention to be on him as I didn't think that he deserved it. Thank you for reviewing.**


	27. Monday, January 2nd

The hospital room was silent apart from the soft breathing of the three occupants. Maura and Jane were lying on their sides on the bed with the safety rails up and their backs pressed against it. Both women were wearing exactly what they had been the previous day and their foreheads were almost touching.

In between them, mostly hidden by the soft pink blanket that Angela had brought in with her the day before. Alessandra's face was buried into the chest of the Italian Detective as she listened to the calming rhythm of the woman's heart. The two women had their arms draped over the child in a protective motion and their hands came to rest on each other's waists as if making the position even more secure for the young girl.

Bright blue eyes were wide open as she lay between her two rescuers, she seemed quite comfortable to simply lay still whilst the adults slept as she had been awake for a while already although it was hard to determine exactly how long as she hadn't looked at the clock at all after waking from her slumber.

Maura was the first out of the two women to awaken, her eyes fluttered open gradually and she stretched slightly although it was not by much due to her restricted movement.

The slight motion however prompted the child to roll over and look at her with a bright smile. She silently watched the woman with curiosity as she woke.

Doctor Isles smiled in return towards the little one, "Good Morning Allie", she said in a very soft whisper.

Alessandra did not utter a word. She did not make a sound at all. Instead she smiled once more before burying closer to her but upon attempting to do so it meant that she rolled onto her casted broken arm, the hard red cast hurting her side as she came to lay upon it causing her to flinch slightly and make almost a squeak sound.

As Jane began to open up her eyes, she witnessed Maura move slightly more towards the child in order to lay on her back whilst tugging the child to lay on top of her, her arm had moved away from Jane so that she could use both of her arms to lift the child and hold her there. The hazel eyed beauty held the little girl close, Allie had her eyes closed as she listened to the woman's heart rate - it seemed to be a comfort mechanism for the youngster who seemed to have a habit of finding that resting position.

For a few minutes, Maura did not register that Jane had awoken and instead was concentrating on the child in her arms, she was running her hand up and down the child's back as she held her close. She leant down slightly to press a soft and caring kiss to the little girl's now clean curls before glancing over towards her girlfriend.

Jane smiled brightly towards Maura, "Good Morning", she said gently as she observed the interactions between the two other people who occupied the bed with her.

The Detective's girlfriend smiled in return, "Good Morning", she replied lovingly as Jane leant up to kiss her lips in a small and brief touch. As Jane lay down again on the bed, remaining on her side in order to watch them, Maura spoke again, "How long have you been awake?", she questioned knowing that it could not been in that very moment as she was already beginning to be coherent which was something that Jane definitely was not when she first woke up.

"Not long", the curly haired woman replied, "But long enough to see how much of an amazing mother you're going to be with our daughter".

A huge smile burst out onto the Doctor's face, like a sudden burst of a firework that would have the power to light up the sky on the darkest of nights, "I like the sound of that", she admitted in a whisper as if it were a secret from the world outside of the child's hospital room.

"The sound of you being an amazing mother?", Jane questioned, "Because we both know it's true".

Maura shook her head, "Although I do appreciate the compliment, I was referring to the part where you said _our daughter_ ", she spoke with a smile printed upon her features as she reached with one hand to take hold of Jane's before gently squeezing it.

Realisation crossed the dark haired woman's face before she smiled, "I did didn't I?", she asked as if in disbelief, she had clearly said it without thinking.

"Yep", a little voice said in confirmation with a slight emphasis on the last letter of the word. It was the only word she had spoken since awakening in the bed that morning and she now watched the woman in question with wide open bright blue eyes.

Jane chuckled softly at the little one's response and smiled, "Well soon you will be", she said confidently, "As soon as all of the papers are signed".

The little girl said nothing at all but instead opted to observe.

Maura ran her hand through the dark and now slightly knotted hair of their new foster daughter, she gently laced her fingers through to release the small, light knots. "Would you like that?", the woman asked as she moved her hand to instead trace her cheek.

Alessandra again opted not to speak and chose to use the gesture of nodding as a replacement for any vocal reactions.

The child's foster mothers both smiled at the young one's response. Doctor Isles had come to realise that Alessandra Mai Harmon may be showing signs of selective mutism but she decided that it was too early to judge as to whether it was that diagnosis or if it were in fact nervousness with a refusal to speak. Both women however seemed rather happy with her response even if it was not a spoken one.

After approximately half an hour of speaking to the little girl about themselves, the house that she would be staying in and the people that were their family, the nurse entered the room. The door slowly opened to reveal a uniformed nurse with a smile on her face.

Despite the lack of threat, the child seemed to shrink back a little. Maura rubbed her back again in a soothing motion in order to attempt to calm her. It seemed to work.

"Good Morning Alessandra", the woman said with a bright and happy smile, "My name is Nurse Owens but you may call me Lilly".

Lilly Owens seemed to be approximately 25-30 years old, she had red hair that was pinned back in a neat bun with a braid wrapped around the base of it and she had emerald green eyes that seemed to almost match her small stud earrings. She had her hospital issued uniform on with a fob watch attached to the breast pocket which also contained three pens each with a different pattern on it; one with bumble bees on, one with robots and one with butterflies.

The fob watch much like the pens had been chosen in reference to her job, knowing that children seemed to like brighter and more fun things. The watch was a _GFN Daisy Watch_ , or at least that day it was because she had a multitude of different shaped watches which friends and family had purchased for her during her training as well as after she had gotten her job at the hospital. Inside her work locker she had shapes that included; a ladybird, a butterfly, a robot, an alien, a lollipop, an ice cream and even a dragon. These all seemed to be rather popular with the child patients that she tended to on a daily basis and on her breaks she would switch them over so that if a child had seen one shape in the morning then they would see a different one in the afternoon.

Alessandra was completely silent as she carefully watched the redheaded woman in the room.

"I am going to need to take your IV drip out, is that okay?", the kind hearted woman said with a smile as she stepped closer to the bed.

The child simply blinked and failed to offer her arm towards the woman as she had previously done with the woman that she now lay on.

Lilly tried again, "Can you sit up for me?", she asked softly, it did not seem to faze her that the young girl was not responding to her, "Then if you can give me your arm, once the IV is gone you'll be one more step closer to going home with your parents". She had clearly not been informed that it were in fact her new foster parents that were lying in the bed with her, although Jane herself had since sat up in the bed and begun to unlatch the barrier.

Alessandra tilted her head slightly as she watched the nurse, she was still adjusting to the concept of having foster parents.

Jane turned more towards the young girl and smiled gently, "Allie", she said as she reached out and touched her cheek in order to prompt her to look at her instead of the nurse, "Can you sit up for me?".

This time the question was met with movement as the little one struggled to sit up with the use of only one arm. Both Maura and Jane helped the child to readjust so that she could sit up. Maura also sat up in the process to make it easier for the little one to.

The dark haired child remained in Maura's lap, leaning in against her with her good arm slightly behind the Doctor's back.

"Now", she said calmly with a stable and quiet tone of voice, "Are you ready to have your IV taken out?". Lilly was beside the bed and watching the little girl carefully, "All I need is your arm then I can get it out for you, 'cause that must be pretty uncomfortable right? I know I don't like it when I have to have them in". She was clearly trying to bond a little with the child in order to make her feel more comfortable.

Alessandra's head remained tilted ever so slightly to the side, a mannerism that reminded Jane of Maura, a fact that made the brunette smile. She seemed to think for a moment before she looked up towards Maura, "You?", she questioned with a barely audible through her oxygen mask as it was a slightly nervous whisper.

Maura glanced over towards the nurse before returning her attention back to the child and nodding, she knew that she was more than capable of removing her foster daughter's intravenous drip which had been providing her with extra fluids throughout the night to help to counteract the dehydration that the child suffered whilst in captivity. The Doctor nodded to confirm that she would, "Okay", she said softly as she gently removed the young child's oxygen mask from her face, determining that she did not need it as much now as it had only been a precautionary measure in the first place.

Lilly knew that it went against procedure to permit a parent to perform a medical procedure even if it was something as simple as removing a drip, however she acknowledged the fact that it was not a normal parent but in fact the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This was a fact that she had been told previous to entering the room, her boss had informed her of it at the morning briefing as well as the fact that the dark haired Italian woman was a very protective and highly decorated Homicide Detective - this information was more of a warning to staff to be on their best behaviour whilst in the little girl's room, if they needed something then you were not to hesitate in accommodating the request.

Nurse Owens handed the small dish of medical supplies over to the medically trained woman who was holding the child.

Jane carefully removed Alessandra from her girlfriend's lap and placed her in her own instead so that Maura had better access to the child's hand.

Alessandra's hand was covered with a bandage as well as medical tape in order to protect the intravenous drip that entered into the vein in her hand.

Doctor Maura Isles sat up so that she would be able to reach the little one's hand from a better angle and she placed the small bowl of medical supplies beside her before slipping on the gloves provided.

"Can I have your…", she did not managed to complete her sentence which would have been '...arm please Allie?". The reason she didn't manage to finish what she was going to say was that Alessandra offered her arm instantly and without a minor bit of hesitation. The trust shown in that small action made all three women in the room smile although it was Maura who was the happiest with the level of trust shown towards her by the little girl.

Each step was carefully explained Alessandra by Maura as it was performed, she seemed to be at ease with helping the child despite her usual patients being those that lacked a pulse.

It was not long before the intravenous drip along with the bandages had been removed and in its place was a small cotton wool ball that was held on by a small piece of tape.

"What a brave girl you are", the green eyed nurse said with a smile, "I think that deserves a lolly, don't you?". Her question was met with slightly widened eyes and a smile but again she opted to nod rather than talk. "Hmmm… How about if you can tell me what flavour you'd like then you can have one of my special lollies?", the nurse said with a smile, although truth be told she did intend on giving the child one regardless of if she spoke a single word.

Lilly extracted a selection of lollies from her pocket, each a different colour as she always ensured that she had a range of options, "I have...", she said softly, before indicating to each option as she spoke, "...cola ,strawberry, cherry, pineapple". The little girl continued to watch the woman and listen carefully to each of the flavours listed, "...lemon…", it was lemon that got the most reaction out of the child as she scrunched up her face rather comically making it obvious that it was not a favoured flavour. Lilly chuckled softly in amusement, as did the other two women, "I guess you don't like lemon too much then?", she asked softly. "I also have a chocolate one and a blueberry one".

Alessandra looked at each of the lollies in turn, the lemon one had been put away when the nurse realised that the little one was far from interested in the citrus fruit flavoured choice.

"So…", Lilly said with a smile, "Which one will it be?".

Maura and Jane both watched on, curious as to whether or not the little one would actually speak but also ready to stop it if their foster child became distressed or agitated.

Little Miss Harmon tapped her lip with a finger on her good hand as she thought for moment, considering her options and doing it in a way that looked very adorable in the eyes of all three women. "Please may I have the…", her voice was very quiet and polite as she spoke, pausing before announcing her choice as she seemed to struggle, she was not used to having options, "...cola".

All three women smiled when she spoke, especially Lilly who was quite surprised that it had worked, she had been told that the little girl was reluctant to speak as it had been written in her notes but that had not prevented her from trying. "Then cola it is then", Lilly replied happily with a smile before handing it over to her.

Alessandra paused for a moment before taking the pop from the kind woman, "Thank you", she whispered politely.

Lilly smiled brightly, "Well seeing as you've been so good and that you were so polite", she started as she watched the little one who was sat in the Detective's lap, "How about I give you the other flavours too?".

Her surprise was evident from the fact that her eyes widened and her jaw dropped ever so slightly, but she was silent, she seemed unsure as to what to say.

"I'll even give you the lemon", she said before chuckling at the little girl's scrunched up facial reaction, "Just in case one of your mommies like lemon then you can share them".

Alessandra smiled brightly, she already had one lolly sat beside a bear that resided on the bedside cabinet.

Lilly placed the other flavoured pieces of candy on the bed near the young child, "Here you go", she said with a smile, resulting in a quiet 'thank you' from the child.

"Now..I will go and get your Doctor so that she can sign you out", Nurse Lilly said with a smile.

Alessandra Mai looked very confused, her head tilted immediately as she looked at Lilly before pointing in the direction of Maura.

Jane chuckled as did the other two women. Lilly shook her head, "I forgot you have your own Mommy Doctor don't you?".

The child silently looked at Maura for a moment and as soon as the honey blonde woman smiled in her direction, the little one turned back to Lilly and nodded in confirmation.

"Well..", Lilly said with a smile, "I have to go and get your other Doctor, I have to get the one that's in charge of signing all the papers to let you go home".

Alessandra did not respond but continued to observe.

"Is that okay?", the Irish nurse said with a smile.

This time Alessandra responded with a quick nod of her head to signal that it was indeed okay with her.

Lilly smiled, "Then I will be back later before you go", she said towards the child before she left with the medical bowl to go and inform the Doctor that the patient was ready for discharge.

It did not take long for the Doctor to arrive, the woman did not wear a typical white medical coat like the one that Maura herself often wore which indicated that she was not a regular doctor but instead higher up in the hospital. She instead wore a black pencil skirt with a burgundy ruffle blouse and on her feet were black high heels. Her hair was almost black and had been curled, she had green eyes and a welcoming smile.

"Good Morning", she said towards all three of them before turning her attention solely to the patient in the bed, "My name is Doctor Edelstein, I was told that you would like to go home". The fact that she introduced herself using her professional name rather than using her first name showed that she was not usually in the children's ward.

Alessandra nodded, despite the woman's uncertainty around children, the child strangely decided to respond to her instantly.

Doctor Edelstein smiled and stepped forward with a clipboard, "If you could sign this form then you can take her home as soon as you're ready", she said professionally as she handed the clipboard directly to Maura.

Maura did not hesitate to take the clipboard and pen from the other woman, she recognised the Doctor as the Dean of Medicine at the hospital which led them to engage in a brief conversation about the child in purely medical terminology, of which the majority seemed to fly over Jane's head. Jane however did not seem to mind at all, instead focusing on the child in her arms and speaking softly to her instead.

When Maura handed the black clipboard back to the Dean, her signature was scrawled at the bottom on the necessary line in black ink and showed that she was responsible for the child upon her discharge from the hospital.

Soon, the discharge papers were arranged and the couple found themselves preparing to leave the hospital. The little girl's bags were packed but rather than getting the little girl dressed, Jane opted to instead stand her on the bed.

Maura looked on with curiosity and Alessandra seemed slightly confused herself which was shown in their rather identical head tilts.

Jane smirked as she noticed it but continued with what she was doing. She lifted up the blanket that her mother had brought to the hospital and wrapped it around the child's small frame, "This will keep you lovely and warm", she said softly before picking her up and placing the child straight onto her hip. It was clear then that she had the intention of carrying her home wearing her pyjamas.

Maura opted not to say anything but instead took hold of the bag, carrying it with her as they started to leave the hospital.

When the three of them reached the hallway of the children's ward, Jane reached out with her spare hand and took hold of her girlfriend's before smiling at her happily.

Alessandra's head was leaning quite comfortably upon the surface of Jane's shoulder, cushioned by the Detective's blazer. Her left arm remained in a sling and was in front of her whilst her other arm was snaked behind the woman, holding on to the material of her jacket.

Detective Jane Rizzoli was often seen as fierce and often intimidating but instead she was holding a little girl in her arms who was wrapped safely in a warm blanket, wearing only pyjamas and warm socks, and she was pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she walked along the hallway of the hospital with her hand firmly in the grasp of her co-worker's. She looked far from fierce, instead she looked softer than cashmere and she did not seem to care one bit.

Maura suggested getting the car and bringing it closer to the doors so that they did not have to carry the little girl too far in the cold. Jane agreed straight away, opting to keep the little one in the warmth of the hospital for a little longer.

Jane sat down on a bench near the doors, out of the way of the cold draft that came in when the doors opened but close enough that she could see through the glass doors to see when Maura would pull up in the unmarked police vehicle. She did not usually allow Maura to drive it but today would be one of the exceptions because she did not wish to let the little one go.

"Everything is going to be okay now", Jane said quietly to the little girl who safely rest in her arms, "I promise you that I...we will keep you safe Allie". She seemed to promising herself as well as the child, "I'll never let you go", she whispered in a nearly inaudible voice although she did not mean to say that line out loud.

Alessandra smiled up at her, she did not say anything back but in that moment there was not truly a need to. Her eyes were shining happily and she hugged the woman as tightly as she possibly could despite her arm being broken.

Once Maura had pulled up at the entrance/exit to the hospital, Jane stood up with the little girl and made her way out of the sliding glass doors towards her. Maura opened the back door of the car swiftly, she had realised once getting to the car that they did not in actual fact have a car seat for the little one.

Jane passed Alessandra over to her girlfriend before getting herself settled into the car first. Once she was ready she put her arms out to take the child and soon had Allie cradled in her arms as Maura closed the car door gently.

The movement of the car soon sent Alessandra back into a state of slumber, Jane ran her finger over her cheek as Maura drove carefully back to Beacon Hill. "I love you Allie", she said softly as she stroked the girl's cheek. Despite not actually knowing her for that long, the little one had captured her heart from day one and she had become heavily immersed within the case.

Maura found herself smiling as she glanced at the two in the mirror before pulling into the driveway in Beacon Hill. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to Jane, "I'm going to unlock the door and take her bag in then I'll be back to help you get out", she said softly.

Jane nodded in agreement and it did not take long for Maura to exactly what she said she would do and was back beside the car, undoing the car passenger door.

Jane passed the now sleeping child over to Maura, who awoke looking a little disorientated and confused but she simply snuggled into Maura a little. The Detective got out of the car and closed the door, instead of taking the child back however, she put her hand against Maura's lower back to guide her inside.

Maura walked in, stepping up carefully into the house as she carried the little one and was soon guided over to the sofa where she sat down gracefully with Alessandra in her arms. Little Allie had woken up fully by the time that the woman was seated and was looking around her new surroundings with curiosity and wonder.

The rest of the day went rather well and Allie had been ecstatic to get her doll back, she had responded by holding the doll tightly as though hugging an old friend that she had not seen in years. Jane smiled happily, the doll was where it belonged rather than on her desk at work.

Jane made sandwiches for lunch which involved fluff and peanut butter, and when Maura commented that it was not a healthy option, Jane put a stick of celery on the woman's plate. This made Alessandra burst into a fit of giggles at the sight of the woman staring at her plate with a huge stick of celery on it along with the sandwich. Jane smirked, quite amused with herself but happy to see their foster child so amused too. Maura raised an eyebrow towards the Detective, attempting to look unimpressed or slightly mad but instead all she could do was laugh because of the little girl's reaction.

They had shown Alessandra the house with Jane being a rather eccentric tour guide, she would throw her arms in a dramatic manner as she announced, "and this…is….the...linen closet!", and no matter what she was introducing, she made it seem as if she were announcing an act at a circus. Each room announcement was met with a small burst of giggles whilst an amused Maura watched on at her girlfriend's intriguing behaviour.

When it came to dinner time, the Maura opted to pull out a meal that Angela had cooked the day before for them so that they would not have to cook on the first day that they had Alessandra home with them. The dish was served up which was her traditional gnocchi recipe which Maura served with a side salad and garlic bread. Alessandra seemed to recognise the dish straight away, her eyes went wide and she smiled widely, "Adoro gli gnocchi", she said quite happily although quietly. Her Italian seemed to perfectly roll off of her tongue as she stated her love for the Italian dish.

Jane had been putting the food into her mouth but when Alessandra spoke, she stopped with the fork a small distance from her mouth, frozen.

Maura watched on, her eyes glancing between the two. Alessandra seemed unfazed and continued to eat her dinner. She seemed to enjoy it much more than she did the pizza.

"Tu parli italiano?", Jane asked the little one gently, wanting to confirm that it was not in fact a one off and that she did in fact know the language. This fact was not something that was in her file at all.

Alessandra looked up from her dish briefly, "Ovviamente", she said, stating 'of course', as if it were normal for every person to speak it.

Jane chuckled at the response before continuing, "Chi ti ha insegnato?", she said softly, asking who taught her the language.

"Mammina", the little one responded instantly.

Maura had been following the conversation, although her Italian was not perfect, she did know enough to understand it and had been learning herself in order to eventually be able to take part in more conversations with the Rizzoli's but also to eventually say her wedding vows to Jane in the woman's heritage language.

By the time that they had finished dinner, the little one's head was resting on the table and her arm over her stomach. Maura knelt down beside the child, concerned as to what was wrong and she quickly came to the realisation that the girl had simply eaten more than what her stomach was ready to handle.

Alessandra Mai was quickly lifted from the chair when she began to heave, and holding her at arm's length in a rather amusing fashion, Jane carried her into the bathroom where the food that she had only just consumed made it's reappearance.

The two women got her cleaned up and into a new set of pyjamas before applying a cold flannel to her head. Her pyjamas were light blue with small clouds printed upon them and on the front of the top was a larger cloud with a sleeping bear on it along with the words 'Sweet Dreams' written below it.

Jane carefully lay the tired child into the bed in the guest room with her doll beside her along with the bear from the hospital. Both women sat on either side of the bed, Maura was running her hand through the child's curls whilst Jane made up a bedtime story for Alessandra which seemed to help her fall asleep.

Once they were sure that the little girl was fast asleep, they left the room although they made sure to leave the door open so that the light from the hallway would filter into the room.

The two women made sure to tidy up from dinner and rather than to sit on the sofa watching television, they both opted to have an early night.

 **A/N: I know that Sasha Alexander is fluent in Italian but I did not want to make Maura fluent, instead I wanted her to gradually work up to it. I have slightly changed the plan so instead of '30' chapters, I have decided to do seven more chapters (one day each) which takes it up to 33 chapters (with a possibility for more.. depending on what people think at the end of Alessandra's first week with Maura and Jane). One shots are possible and could be added RANDOMLY after being marked as 'completed' so watch this space people ; ) OR they could be added as separate stories... thoughts?**

 **Courtneeyoung18, sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review, I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far.**

 **Scolton21 - I did make it a very small, discreet clue on purpose ; ). Thank you for your review.**

 **Xenagabbyrizzles - After the horrors of Hoyt it may take a while for her to adapt fully. Thank you for your review.**

 **Tasheika. Conley - Thank you for your review, I wasn't sure as to whether I have made her too 'mushy' or 'fluffy' but I cannot help but see her this way when I think of her becoming a mother. Thank you for your review.**

 **Vbbneighbour - I loved writing her that way, when I think of her with Alessandra, I see her as very maternalistic based on how much she has gone through in order to find the child and also the influence of the loss of her own child close to when Allie went missing. Thank you for your review.**


	28. Tuesday, January 3rd

_Jane was sat on a blanket beneath the tree in the garden of their home and she was leaning back against the trunk with her wife relaxed in between her legs._

 _Maura was sat back against the other woman with her arms holding onto the arms that were wrapped around her. The two of them were peacefully relaxed and happy._

 _The Detective sighed softly in content as she felt the light breeze flow through her hair and the sun shone down on the garden of their Beacon Hill home. Her hands were protectively placed on the Medical Examiner's swollen abdomen where life was growing within._

" _Have you thought of any names that you would like yet Jane?", Doctor Rizzoli-Isles asked her wife as she leaned her head slightly to the side in order to make eye contact with her._

 _She traced random shapes over her wife's stomach as she thought about it, "I'm not sure…", she said hesitantly, "There is just so many to choose from and it's so hard to try and pick the perfect one… you know?"._

 _The heavily pregnant woman nodded, "I understand", she said simply, "I am having the same problem"._

 _Jane rather enjoyed running her hands over the pregnant stomach of her wife and feeling their children kick beneath her fingertips. "I did have a few ideas though…", she revealed as she spoke softly, "...I was thinking… maybe Leonardo for our baby boy and it could be Leo for short...or maybe Jakob". As she spoke she continued to make patterns with her fingers whilst the infants living in cramped but warm quarters were kicking quite happily, "And I was thinking… for our little girl we could maybe have Giuliana or Alyssa or even Olivia"._

 _Maura smiled brightly as she reached her hand up to cup the other woman's cheek and tug her lightly into a loving kiss._

 _Before she had a chance to respond to the names that her wife had suggested for their unborn twins, a little voice called out to them, "Mamma! Mommy!", it shouted, "Look at this! I can swim underwater without my goggles!". Alessandra's dark curls were soaked and she was dripping wet but she had a huge contagious smile plastered across her face as she stood in the swimming pool. The eight year old little girl had previously been rather nervous about getting the pool water in her eyes but now she was showing both of her adoptive parents just how well she was doing. She seemed to have grown in confidence a lot as she briefly swam beneath the surface of the water with her goggles abandoned on the side of the swimming pool._

" _That's great Allie!", Jane exclaimed with excitement, "I knew you could do it!"._

 _Maura smiled happily as she observed the little girl, "Well done Allie", she said with pride in her voice._

" _Mommy! Mamma!", another little voice yelled from the pool, "I can do it too! Watch me! Watch me"._

" _Be careful Angioletto!", Maura yelled quickly but the little one had already thrown himself energetically beneath the water. It was seconds later that he re-emerged with a massive grin on his face, he had not in fact swam beneath the surface but he had submerged his head._

 _As the two women lay beneath the shade of the tree, watching their two children play in the pool and relaxing with their unborn twins, Jane heard a sound. It sounded as if she could hear crying. She looked around to see where the noise was coming from..._

Jane gradually opened her eyes, she glanced around her realising that she was in bed and had been dreaming. She looked to the side of her to see Maura sleeping peacefully, the woman was lying on her back with one hand on her stomach and the other near to her face.

There was no baby bump in sight. Jane felt a slight sense of loss, she had rather liked the feel of the infants moving around beneath her fingertips with the knowledge that their children were growing in the depths of her wife.

Wife.

She looked down at her hand to check that the ring was still there.

There was a ring.

Just not the ones she wanted.

The promise ring remained but there was no engagement ring nor was there a wedding ring. Both of which had been on her hand within the beauty of her dream.

Then it hit her.

It hit her harsher and much more brutally than a speeding train.

Angioletto was gone.

Angioletto had died.

Angioletto never made it to four years old like he had in her dream. He had not even managed to reach his first birthday.

Jane found her hand wandering down her abdomen and reaching beneath the cotton material of her top to touch the scar that was hidden beneath. Her fingers traced the wound that had caused her to miscarry and she reached with her other hand to roughly brush away the tear that managed to slip from the confinements of her eyelids.

She was always happy to dream of her son.

She was always happy when she awoke with the feeling of holding him in her arms and simply being with him.

But then she would remember and the pain would come back to torture her all over again.

Waking up from one of those dreams was like having to say goodbye to him all over again.

She closed her eyes as she sat up and carefully swung her legs out of bed intending to get a drink from the kitchen when she heard it again. The same sound from her dream. Jane's head shot up and she was soon standing in her bedroom before making her way towards the sound of the crying child. Her dream and the pain that had arisen once more from it were pushed to the side as she made her way towards the crying little girl.

Alessandra was curled up in the corner of the bedroom wearing her new pyjamas, clinging to her doll and buried in a pile of bedding. She was trying to hide in the room as she cried softly behind the bedside table.

Jane made her way around to the side of the bed very cautiously so that she would not scare the young child and she gradually knelt down in front of her with her arms out, "Come here Tesoro", she said in a quiet voice as she repeated the same term of endearment that she had used in the hospital.

The crying child was a little hesitant at first but as Jane began to run her hand through Alessandra's hair and whisper words of comfort, she was soon pushing herself from the floor and almost throwing herself into the arms of the Detective.

The Italian woman wrapped her arms around the child and held her close, rocking her gently, "How about we go and get you some warm milk then we can lay on the sofa and watch cartoons until you fall asleep?", she suggested as she stood up.

Alessandra nodded as she leaned her head against her foster mother's shoulder, her doll clutched safely within her grasp.

It was only when Jane reached the kitchen and opened the fridge to get the milk that she saw how much the little one had been crying. The light given out by the refrigerator revealed the bright pink eyes of the little girl.

Jane pulled the carton of milk from it's cold home before kissing the child on the forehead in a loving and caring manner. Alessandra closed her eyes briefly at the feeling.

The bare footed woman moved to the counter with the now much calmer little girl resting on her right hip as she prepared the warm milk with her left. She set the milk on the counter before turning and getting two mugs from the cupboard - deciding that she too would join in and have some. Jane also got a plastic jug from a different cupboard then awkwardly poured the milk into it with only one hand, pouring the rough amount that she would need for the two drinks, not intending on filling either mug to the brim. The clear plastic jug containing the white liquid was then placed into the microwave before it was flicked on and set on a 'quiet' setting so that it would be less likely to wake the sleeping woman upstairs although Jane had in fact pulled the door to an almost closed position when she left the room.

Once the milk had been warmed up, it was poured into the two mugs with both only being partially filled and Jane's being a little higher in volume than what Alessandra's was. Carefully, still using only one hand, she picked them both up by pushing the handles together and carried them into the living room where she leaned over and placed them both onto the coffee table, resulting in the little girl also tilting over.

Jane shifted the child on her hip as she sat down on the sofa so that Alessandra was safely in her lap.

The girl still continued to hold her doll close with her broken arm as best as she could whilst her other hand clung to the material of Jane's tank top. The woman wore a white tank top with a pair of Red Sox shorts which were blue with the 'B' logo on the bottom left side of the left leg.

The female Detective grabbed the television remote and turned it on as reached for the warm drinks, first getting Allie's and handing to her before taking a sip of her own.

""What would you like to watch?", Jane asked as she picked up the remote control, hitting a few buttons on the control, Netflix was soon loading.

Alessandra thought for a moment as she took multiple sips of her drink, "Do.. do you have frozen?", she asked quietly as she looked at the woman.

"I don't know", the honest reply was, "But we can see, can't we?".

Her nod was quite eager in response, it was clear that it was something that she had been keen on prior to her abduction.

When the drinks had been finished, she shifted to lay down and she lay back with her head on a couple of pillows as she herself was being used as a full pillow for the tired child.

Alessandra was lying fully on her rescuer and foster mother, her head on the woman's chest as she listened to the soothing beat of her heart.

Jane Rizzoli pulled the thick, warm and rather expensive blanket from the back of the sofa so that it would cover the two of them and keep them warm.

"You ready?", Jane asked Alessandra softly in reference to the movie, in reply she only got a nod so she hit the button that would make the movie begin before placing the small black plastic object back onto the coffee table along with their empty mugs. The mugs had been placed onto coasters as Maura had insisted upon it multiple times before although Alessandra had not needed any prompting at all and had done it straight away.

As the title sequence began, Jane lay comfortably with the little girl in her arms, holding her close and watching the movie. Jane knew that the child would start showing signs of withdrawal soon, if she had not already but it would be hard to tell because many of the symptoms would also be shown due to the trauma that she had suffered such as; extreme anxiety, tension, and confusion as well as aspects of amnesia. Maura had already explained the other aspects of withdrawal from the drug that had been found in the child's system which also included; muscle pain, headaches, tingling in the extremities and even hallucinations. All they could hope was that her symptoms would not be too harsh that they cause her to suffer.

The new foster mother ran her hand over the girl's back, softly massaging it in a soothing motion to help her calm and lower her anxiety levels.

Alessandra was responding well to the woman's attempts to soothe her and was soon fast asleep lying on top of the pyjama clad woman along with her doll.

The following morning, Maura awoke to a slither of light seeping through the gap in the curtain and as she stretched she looked to the side, quickly realising that her girlfriend was absent from their bed. She reached her hand out and touched the sheets to test the temperature in order to determine how long the woman had been out of bed for and upon the realisation that the bed was in fact cold, she knew that it had been quite a while.

The Isles' heir yawned tiredly and rubbed her eyes briefly before climbing out of bed, moving first to the bathroom before throwing on a robe and making her way towards the guest bedroom to check on the little girl.

The bedroom however was empty. The sheets had been torn from the bed along with the blankets and comforter, all of which she noticed were screwed up in the far corner of the bedroom in a ring-like shape that seemed almost nest like. The Medical Examiner frowned, hypothesising that Jane must have gotten up to make the young girl some breakfast.

Softly she walked along the hallway towards the open plan living room, kitchen and dining room where she froze in the doorway. Maura Isles stood watching with a smile on her face as her lover lay on her back with the sleeping child lying on top of her. The thick, soft cream blanket was covering them both and Jane's arms were secured around the girl.

The only light in the room was the glow from the television screen. Maura looked at the screen and noticed that they had been watching 'Frozen', she had heard of the movie but not in fact watched it herself.

Maura looked towards the table, noting the mugs that rested upon coasters and smiled softly at the thought that Jane had made them hot drinks which would possibly help the child to return to a state of slumber. Apparently it had worked on the woman too.

She took in the appearance of both Jane and Alessandra and smiled happily, leaning against the door before moving to the kitchen.

Quietly she put the plastic jug into the dishwasher, mentally taking note that there were remnants of milk in the bottom and that the microwave door was wide open, indicating that Jane had warmed it up. She wanted to remember so that if she were to try and get the little one to sleep then she would know what to do.

She had had a vastly different upbringing to Jane and so she wanted to learn the 'Rizzoli way' of parenting as she raised Alessandra with Jane as well as possibly more children. Whenever she imagined having children, even in the past, she could never see anyone else by her side other than Jane. She tried to envision Ian but failed as he always morphed into Jane.

Continuing to be as quiet as she possibly could with the sleeping Detective and child on the sofa, she managed to pull out the items needed for pancakes and set them out on the side along with the kitchen equipment necessary for the task at hand.

Jane Clementine Rizzoli began to awake at the smell of pancakes, "Mmmm…", she mumbled, "Pancakes". She knew the smell instantly, before she even opened her eyes.

Instantly, Alessandra's head shot up, "Pancakes?", she questioned with slightly wide eyes.

Jane laughed at her amusing reaction, as did Maura who had heard the little girl from the kitchen where she was dishing up the first plate of pancakes.

Detective Rizzoli threw back the warm blanket that had covered them for the majority of the night and stood up with Alessandra in her arms.

Little Allie rubbed her eyes tiredly as she leaned into the woman, although she was awake enough to be very interested in the concept of pancakes.

Maura continued to dish up the pancakes, leaving some of the handmade traditional Rizzoli batter mix in the clear glass bowl, "What led you both to end up sleeping on the sofa?", she asked with curiosity.

"Allie was upset so I decided to make her some warm milk and put on a movie until she fell asleep", Jane explained as she held the child close, sitting on the kitchen stool, "I guess I fell asleep too whilst we watched the snow princess movie".

"Frozen", the little one corrected as she looked up at Jane with a little confusion.

Jane smiled, much like she did when she purposely told Maura that Bass was a turtle rather than a tortoise.

Maura simply shook her head and smiled at the interaction between the two. "Jane…", she began softly before pausing.

"Yes Maura?", Jane prompted as she watched her girlfriend bring the coffee over from the machine that had been preparing in her fancy coffee machine.

"Next time…", she begun as she placed both mugs onto the kitchen island, "Please could you wake me?".

Jane reached out and took her hand using her only spare one before nodding, "Of course Maur', I'm sorry I… I didn't think.. I just…".

She smiled understandingly, "It's okay, it's our first night home with her and you went on your first instinct which is a good thing", she said softly, "But I would just like to help next time".

The dark haired woman nodded as she squeezed her hand gently, "I'll try to remember that next time", she replied with a smile.

Both women started to eat their pancakes although Jane did have to battle to use only just one hand whilst the other held the child in her lap. She had not attempted to place the child on her own stool as the girl seemed to cling in her state of tiredness.

Alessandra did not move. She did not attempt to eat in any manner.

"Why aren't you eating Allie?", Jane asked as she herself put her own fork down onto the plate.

Her voice was soft and polite as she spoke, "I…", she hesitated, "You did not give me permission to eat". Each time previously she also awaited a sign that she should eat but she had not openly admitted nor had either realised that she was waiting to be told that she could eat it.

"You don't have to ask for permission Allie", Maura said as she looked at her with a caring smile. "Never again", were the two words she spoke as she placed her hand onto Alessandra's.

Alessandra hesitated for only a millisecond before she dove into her pancakes quite happily. Maura had made her two small pancakes having learned that the food may come back up if she were to overeat.

What Alessandra did not notice was the sad smile that was then shown on Maura's face along with the watery hazel eyes. Jane leaned over and kissed the medically trained woman upon the lips in a soft yet brief kiss.

It was day two, Alessandra's first full day in her new home with her new foster parents who would soon adopt her and she already felt much safer than she could remember ever feeling before. In her mind it was like a storybook, two superheroes had come to rescue her from the evil villain.

That day Maura dressed her in a new set of clothing and they spent the day watching movies as well as encouraging the little one to play.

The two women soon realised that they did not have toys for the child so again Angela had been sent to the store to pick up more needed things - a couple of toys which were age-appropriate, some more clothes and some more food items that she may like. All of which were dropped off and the woman refrained from staying for more than a few minutes as she did not want to pressure the child who had been curled in her daughter's lap.

Jane had also convinced Alessandra to go into the back yard where she consequently ended up teaching both her and Maura how to make daisy chains. The little one ended up with daisies linked in with braids that went down each side of her face along with a tiara chain of daisies placed on top of her head.

That night, Jane did not put the little girl back into the guestroom, despite the bed having been made but instead opted to place her into the bed that she herself shared with her beautiful girlfriend. Alessandra fell asleep on her second night in between the two women, protected with a cage structure made from their arms in the exact positions that they lay in during their night in the hospital.

 **A/N:**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for the review however if I do the 33 chapter plan with only the first week involved then there is no way that they will be able to get married in that time and are very unlikely to even get engaged in that timespace as they have a lot on their plates with Alessandra adjusting to the family home along with what they have been through themselves at the hands of Charles Hoyt. If I continue then there is a distinct possibility for engagement as well as the eventual Rizzles marriage.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - I admittedly was unsure as to whether I should give them an almost instant bond or give it a slow progression but I decided that due to the fact she has been consistently given the idea that Jane would rescue her then she would see her as a superhero figure and result in a quicker progression of trust. I always see Jane as a total softy when I think of her with children, much like the way that Olivia Benson is in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as she is really kick-ass when she is dealing with a perpetrator but a much softer person when it comes to the little ones. Yes, Alessandra is at least in my mind, very much alike in appearance to the little girl in my profile picture here - the little girl is called 'Margarita Drugal' and she is a child model. Thank you again for your review.**

 **Scolton21 - Thank you for your review, I am so glad you think so and that you want more chapters.**

 **Ladyb3lla - Unfortunately everything must come to an end. Thank you for your review, I have loved writing their maternal sides so I am rather glad that you've enjoyed reading about their maternalistic natures too.**

 **Jjswinnlive, and Tasheika. Conley - Thank you for your reviews.**

 **Vbbneighbour - She will speak increasingly but she just needs to gain her confidence with each of the people around her due to her anxiety and nervousness. There will be a minimum of another 5 chapters… I cannot believe that it is almost (possibly) over. Thank you again for your kind review.**

 **To each and every one of you that has added this story (or my profile) to their favourite list or alert list, thank you.**


	29. Wednesday, January 4th - Part I

_Large, rough hands reached out towards her…_

The little girl flinched visibly, her breathing becoming slightly erratic and shallow.

 _...and they grabbed hold of her upper arms with a strong, vice-like grip._

She began to toss and turn at an increasing rate. Maura opened her eyes at the movement and reached out to pull the little one close.

" _Please...no…", she called out in desperation._

Jane watched on as Maura held the little girl close to her chest, the woman was now sitting up with the child in her lap. She was rocking her in a soothing manner, "Shhh", she sounded, "Shhh, it's okay".

 _As she called out for help, the cruel and barbaric man seemed to almost drift away as she was enveloped in a feeling of warmth and security._

Blue eyes fluttered open, the slightly glistening eyes looking up at Doctor Maura Isles and upon recognising who was holding her, she instantly wrapped her arms around the woman's neck.

Maura was sitting up against the head of the bed with the little girl clinging to her as if her life depended upon it in that moment. She ran one hand up and down Alessandra's back whilst the other laced into the little one's mass of dark curls.

Jane moved to sit closer and she embraced the both of them at the same time, "It's okay", she said softly to Maura as she looked into the woman's tear-filled, worried eyes. "It's okay", she repeated but this time to the sleepy child, "He's never going to hurt you ever again".

Alessandra looked up at the Italian Detective, her sparkling blue eyes watching her and she had her little finger slightly slipped in between her lips. "Promise?", she asked softly without removing her finger from her mouth. It seemed to be a soothing, coping mechanism for her.

Nodding, Jane spoke, "I promise", she said with a soft and calming voice, "I promise you Allie that he will never ever come near you ever again". She spoke with conviction and it was clear that she was very serious in the way she vowed to keep the little one safe from the monster. Jane ran her fingers over Alessandra's cheek, "And I promise you that from now on...I...we will take care of you", she went on to say, "And we will do everything we possibly can to keep you safe".

Alessandra continued to watch Jane as she spoke, she reached up and was fiddling with the strap on Maura's pyjama top as she listened.

Maura leaned down and pressed a kiss to the girl's head, "How about I get some hot milk for you?", the woman questioned with a slight tilt of her head as she looked down at Allie. "Would you like that?", she asked the child.

Jane understood that her girlfriend needed a moment so instead of waiting for Alessandra to respond, she moved with her arms out, "Come on Allie", she said softly, "Come and give me some of those awesome hugs of yours and Maura will go and get us some of that magic milk that we had last night, okay?".

It did not take long for the little girl to be clambering into Jane's lap with a small smile, seemingly quite eager to have some of the 'magic milk'.

Doctor Isles smiled in the direction of the both of them, she had picked up on the fact that Jane said 'us' rather than 'you' when speaking about the warm milk drink. "I will be back in a moment with some of 'magic milk' for you Allie", she said as she watched them.

"Hey!", Jane called out, "What about me?". She had a slight pout on and was being rather dramatic, "Do I not get any?".

Alessandra seemed to find the reaction highly amusing, she at first glanced between the two but as Jane became more enthusiastic, the little girl could not hold it in any longer and consequently burst into a fit of giggles.

Maura smirked and Jane realised very quickly that the reaction from the child was the reason why Maura had said what she said. Jane smiled and went along with the act, "Come on Maur', please?", she whined.

The Doctor seemed to think about it for a moment, "What do you think Allie?", she asked softly, "Do you think Jane should be allowed to have some of your magic milk?".

Alessandra nodded eagerly, but she did not speak.

"See?", Jane said with a huge grin, "Princess Alessandra has declared that I _must_ have some of her _delicious_ magic milk". She comically put emphasis on the word 'must' as if she would die if she were not to have it at all, and the emphasis she put on the word 'delicious' made it sound as if it were the best thing that anyone in the entire world would ever taste.

Maura tried not to laugh, the little girl kept giggling however which made it hard for Maura not to, "I don't think she did Jane", she replied, she was pretending to be serious.

"She did", Jane decided, "Didn't you Allie?".

Allie looked up at Maura before then up at Jane, before she nodded eagerly, "Yep!", was the only word she spoke and she ended the word with a slight 'pop' sound.

The little one was giggling rather happily, the nightmare was forgotten and Maura had gone to get 'magic milk' which was simply organic milk warmed in the microwave and put into a mug.

* * *

A few hours later, the alarm clock sounded on the side of the bed and Maura reached out her arm from beneath the covers as she sat up to tiredly hit the correct button to stop the horrid noise.

A groan sounded from the other side of the bed and Maura turned around to look. She saw the blanket being pulled up over Jane's head. Jane was lying on her side, curled slightly around the little girl who was curled into a ball.

Maura laughed slightly with amusement and shook her head, "Jane", she said softly, "Jane".

"Go away", Jane said through the layers of material, "We're asleep".

"We have to go to the office today Jane", Maura said softly, "The FBI requested our presence".

Jane groaned again, "We're asleep", she repeated, despite the fact that she wasn't.

A little giggle sounded from beneath the covers.

"Shh", Jane whispered, "You'll give us away… she thinks we're asleep".

Maura shook her head at the behaviour of her girlfriend but could not help but smile at how adorable the interaction was.

"But you spoke first", the little girl highlighted in a whisper.

"Shhh", Jane repeated in a whisper, "Pretend we were talking in our sleep".

Alessandra nodded, "Okay Jane".

Maura could not help but laugh, "Well…", she begun, "..I suppose that if there isn't anyone awake in here that I will just have to go and make pancakes all by myself".

She was met with silence as the two stared at each other with wide eyes beneath the covers.

"I will also have to…", she paused, "Eat them all too…".

The covers were thrown away in such a dramatic fashion that they almost fell from the bed completely, both seemed quite eager to awaken for the breakfast treat.

"Oh so you are awake then?", Maura questioned with a raised eyebrow and slight smirk.

"Yeah", Jane said with a smile, "I think we can be awake now can't we Allie?".

"Most definitely", the little one said with a nod.

Maura smiled happily, she was overjoyed to be able to see this side of her girlfriend especially as the last year had been so rough on them all so to see the contrasting mood of Jane was amazing to her.

"I'll go and get everything prepared", Maura announced with a smile as she climbed out of bed. Normally she would get dressed and ready before even going downstairs for her coffee but instead she opted to grab the robe from the back of her door and throw another towards Jane.

The bathrobe landed on Jane's head as she sat up in the bed, although Maura did not realise until she turned back around at the sound of the little one giggling. Jane pulled the robe from her head, her hair a messy mass of curls that almost rivaled the little girl's, and she attempted to glare at her girlfriend but failed.

Maura left the bedroom and made her way down towards the kitchen in her silk pyjamas and matching bathrobe in order to prepare to make pancakes for breakfast. She knew that the little girl enjoyed pancakes because of her reaction the previous day but this was the first time that she was about to let the little one help to make them.

It was not long before both Jane and Alessandra were also in the kitchen. Jane had come down the stairs with the little one securely attached to her back.

Alessandra had been placed on the work surface, Maura had already prepared the equipment and essentials needed to make the breakfast meal and Jane was stood in front of the child, securing her there.

"Have you ever made pancakes before Allie?", Jane asked softly.

 _The house was filled with sounds of children screeching with laughter along with the sounds of their parents amusement._

 _Inside the kitchen was a mess._

 _A very big, white mess._

 _There was flour on every single surface that it could possibly reach._

It was on the floor.

 _It was on the counter._

 _It was on the children._

 _It was on the parents._

 _But they did not care._

 _After a while, Michelle leaned into her husband and kissed him softly, Alessandra was on his hip whilst Christian, Tyler and Kelly were continuing to throw flour at each other._

" _Time for you guys to sit at the breakfast table so I can cook these pancakes", Michelle said to the children, flicking pancake batter at them from the wooden spoon that she held in her left hand._

 _The children giggled happily. The three eldest moved to the breakfast stools straight away but Alessandra remained happily in her Thomas' arms, leaning into her father. "You too Allie", she said with a smile before kissing the little girl's cheek, so much love shone in the woman's eyes and the little girl nodded._

Alessandra touched her cheek, as she remembered the feeling of the kiss to her cheek from her mother.

 _Thomas did not put the little girl on the floor however as he opted to place her onto the stool himself. The aging man doted on his children, he loved them all so very much._

 _Michelle turned back to the stove and began to make the pancakes, Thomas was helping her by getting the plates ready each time and then handing the plates to the children._

 _When the pancakes were all dished up, Thomas kissed his wife to purposely put flour and batter mix onto her, which in turn made the little ones laugh almost as loud as they had when they were fighting with flour themselves._

The little one nodded in confirmation but said nothing.

Maura bent down a little so that she could see the hidden face of the little girl who was looking downward, "Could you tell us what you're remembering?", she asked softly as she observed the face of the saddened child.

Alessandra looked over at the stove where the frying pan was sat and smiled, "We had a flour flight.. And then Pappa got Mammina covered in pancake", she revealed as she looked towards the flour.

Jane and Maura both smiled at what the little one had told them.

"Were they any good?", Jane asked softly, referring to the pancakes.

 _Michelle sat at the kitchen island with her plate in front of her with a pancake laying on the top of it, her pancake had a variety of berries on top of it with dark chocolate sauce._

 _To her left was her husband; Thomas who had opted for a plain pancake with his black coffee._

 _Next to Thomas was their youngest daughter; Alessandra. The four year old little girl had her pancake covered in white chocolate sauce with strawberries on top of it. Her breakfast was on a personalised plate which was pink with a princess castle in the middle and her name written at the bottom._

 _Beside Alessandra was her brother; Tyler, the eleven year old boy had a mess of different sauces painted over his breakfast with chocolate chips. He was the messiest of them all. His hair that had once been dark was now white. He was eating his breakfast off of a Bruins' team plate although it was so completely covered that it was impossible to tell._

 _Christian cringed at the amount of random sauces that Tyler had poured on whilst sat beside him at the breakfast bar, and on his own he had opted simply for a mix of milk chocolate and white chocolate sauces with some chocolate chips. His plate was an official plate from the MBL with the Red Sox logo printed in the middle._

 _In between both Christian and their mother was Kelly Elyse, the 8 year old little girl's braids were splattered with white flour and she had a line of pancake mix on her left cheek. The little one's obsession with pink overflowed into her breakfast choice as she had opted for a strawberry sauce along with a raspberry sauce and topped it off with edible pink cake confetti shaped like little hearts. Her design choice made not only the boys scrunch their noses but also little Alessandra as it was simply 'too pink'._

 _The centre of the island contained a small pile of extra pancakes, a range of sauces, fruits, cake toppings and candy pieces. Each of the children had a glass of milk with their breakfast._

A smile was spread over Alessandra's face as she nodded in response.

"What did you have on yours?", Maura asked the little girl.

"White chocolate…", she said softly, "with strawberries".

Maura smiled, "That sounds like a good choice".

It was not long before the little girl was sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter with a bowl in front of her as she mixed the batter with the help of both of the women in the room.

* * *

After finishing up their pancakes, Maura had gone to get ready whilst Jane got Alessandra dressed. Then once Alessandra was dressed along with Maura, Maura then did the little one's hair whilst Jane went and got ready herself.

Jane carefully strapped the little girl into the carseat that Angela had been to the store to collect.

The little girl was wearing a light blue dress with matching shoes, white socks and dark blue coat along with a matching hat. Maura had purchased a multitude of things online that Angela had gone in and collected.

Alessandra had her doll in her lap, and a cherry lollipop in her mouth.

Maura Isles sat in the back with her whilst Jane drove towards the precinct.

Jane drove carefully through the streets of Boston, glancing in her rearview mirror to check on her two passengers when she had a moment to do so.

It was not long before she was parking the car in the underground parking garage of the precinct.

Maura unbuckled her seatbelt as Jane kindly opened her door.

The Detective moved away straight away to make her way around to the other side and open the opposite back passenger door.

Alessandra watched as Jane knelt down slightly and undid her safety belt.

Jane picked up the child in her arms as she watched Maura come around the back of the car to stand beside them with her bag on her arm. "This is the precinct", she said softly, "where Maura and I work".

The little one looked at her surroundings, her eyebrow raised and head tilted in confusion.

"This is just the parking garage Allie", Maura said gently in response to the confusion painted on the girl's face.

Jane smiled as she hit the button that electronically locked the unmarked vehicle, "You'll get to see the rest of the precinct soon enough", she said as she carried the child towards the elevator, "Do you remember why we're here?".

Alessandra nodded but not a single sound escaped her lipbalm painted lips. The lip balm was coconut flavoured, Maura had been putting on her makeup when she noticed the little one was watching her so she gave her one of her unused organic lip balm sticks in order for the little girl to be able to sit on the counter and do her 'makeup' too.

 _Maura had been stood in front of the bathroom mirror as she touched up her makeup, she looked down to pick up her lipstick and as she looked up at the mirror she saw a little face peeking out from the doorframe._

" _Hello Allie", she said softly, making the little one move back out of sight. Maura smiled, "Would you like to come and have some makeup too?"._

 _Alessandra moved into the doorway and watched the woman but did not move until Maura put the lipstick onto the counter and held out her hand in her direction._

 _Doctor Isles bent down to pick her up and set her on the counter beside the sink, "Would you like to have some too?", she asked with a smile._

 _The little one nodded but was silent._

 _Maura pulled open one of the drawers and withdrew five different lip balms before offering them to her, "These are lip balms", she explained with a smile, "Would you like one of these so that you can do your makeup too?"._

 _Alessandra bit her lip ever so slightly as she looked at the five items in question and nodded, "Yes, please", she said very quietly, almost inaudibly._

" _Okay", Maura replied with a smile, "Which one would you like? I have coconut, lime, cocoa butter, blueberry and watermelon"._

 _The little girl remembered that in the hospital she had been told that she had to verbalise the answer when choosing from a range of options, so that is what she did. "Coconut please", she said very softly in response to the question, opting for the white tube with a brown lid and brown writing on it alongside a picture of a coconut._

" _You may", the woman responded in the same polite manner as the child before handing over the tube._

 _When Jane found them, Alessandra was sat on the counter with her legs crossed as she looked into the mirror, putting on lip balm whilst Maura was stood beside her putting on the top coat of her lipstick._

 _When Maura pouted, so did Allie which made Jane bit her own lip to prevent herself laughing at the scene._

 _When Maura smacked her lips together, so did Allie which in turn made Jane laugh as she could no longer hold it in at the sight of the little girl mimicking her girlfriend's routine._

 _Jane found herself rather excited to have the little one with them, and wondering what the little one would do next._

Jane smiled softly as they got into the elevator, "Would you like to press the button?", she asked softly, rather than to hit the button repeatedly like she usually did.

Alessandra nodded, seeming quite eager to be able to press the button and once Jane had told her which number to press, she did it straight away. She seemed quite pleased with herself, something that made Maura smile.

It did not take the three of them long before they were stood in the bullpen of the homicide department.

By the time that they had gotten through the crowded hallways of the law enforcement building, the little one was shaking slightly, her knuckles had gone white from gripping Jane's shirt so tightly, and her eyes were incredibly wide.

Before Korsak and Frost managed to utter a greeting, Maura put her hand up to silence anything that would be said before she put one finger up to indicate that they needed a moment.

Jane sat down at her desk with the trembling child in her arms, "Hey, hey, hey", she said softly in a calming tone, "It's okay, I promise you". The woman took off her own jacket and wrapped it around the little girl, she held her close and rocked her slightly.

Maura was kneeling beside the chair and she ran her fingers over Alessandra's hands to attempt to calm her enough to release the grip a little.

VInce Korsak and Barry Frost watched on as their colleagues soothed a scared little child, both looking very maternalistic in the moment.

After a while, the little girl seemed to relax a little, her breathing was returning to normal and she eased up on the grip she had on the material of Jane's clothing.

Carefully and rather slowly, Frost approached the three of them with an outstretched hand, a hand containing a bottle of juice. The juice had originally been part of his lunch for the day but he had not touched a drop and thought the little one may enjoy it more.

Jane smiled up at him, "Thanks", she said softly as she took the drink from him and he stepped back again. She passed the bottle to Maura so that the woman could open it as she only had one hand free.

Doctor Maura Isles opened up the bottle of orange juice and handed it over to the little girl.

Alessandra sat, leaning into Jane as she sipped at the orange juice, seeming quite happy and no longer trembling.

"Sensory overload", Maura stated as she stood up, "it happens when the person experiences over-stimulation from the environment around them, in this case it was the crowding of people along with the large quantity of noise". She glanced over towards the door that Barry had since shut, "I don't believe the officers helped in their…", she paused in order to word what she wanted to say correctly in a socially appropriate manner, "... over enthusiastic greetings. Although I do understand their excitement considering the BPD along with the FBI have been searching for her for over a year".

"They could still back off and leave her be though…", Jane began.

Maura quickly cut her off, "I do believe that each and every person in the precinct now understands your views on the matter Jane". Although it had not taken them long to get to the bullpen, many had attempted to stop them as they wanted to see the little girl who had been at the centre of their biggest cases.

"Well…", Korsak said with a smile as he stood near his desk, "...it definitely is good to see her that's for sure".

"How's she doing?", Frost asked as he stood close by.

Jane held her close, her arms wrapped around the child as she held her to her chest, "She's doing well… she was copying Maura do her makeup this morning, she helped us make pancakes… and yesterday she chose the movies", Jane paused, "She has nightmares but… that's normal right?".

Maura nodded, "She seems to be doing very well considering what she's been through over the past year", she said softly as she put a hand on Alessandra's shoulder, her thumb brushing a small pattern on the material of Jane's jacket, "We have been confirmed as her foster parents and the paperwork is being processed for adoption".

Both men's faces lit up, "That's great news guys, congratulations", Korsak said towards the two women, stepping forward to give a small and brief embrace to the Medical Examiner before stepping aside.

Frost did the same, neither hugging Jane for two reasons; the first being she simply was not fond of it and secondly because they did not want to scare the little girl who lay calmly in her lap, "That's the best news I've heard in a long time", he exclaimed rather happily, "I knew you'd never let her go".

His comment made Jane's head shoot up with a little bit of surprise on her face but then she realised that there never was any doubt. A smile spread across her face as she looked down at the child before back towards the male detective, "How could I?", she asked in response as she kissed the child's head before placing her cheek on top of the girl's curls.

"What brings you guys here?", Korsak asked the two of them, "I know it wasn't to tell us the great news".

"The FBI wanted us to bring her down to the precinct so that they could begin the interview process", Maura explained.

"Yeah they want to ask her a shit load of questions", Jane huffed, clearly unimpressed.

"Language Jane", Maura replied quickly.

"Oh come on Maur', you and I both know that we could do this interview ourselves", Jane replied.

"They want their own to interview her Jane", the woman responded with a slight sigh.

Jane sighed, "Maur', she won't talk to them..".

"You don't know that Jane", Maura responded, "She spoke to Nurse Owens".

"She wanted a lollipop Maur', the kid was practically bribed to talk", Jane fired back quickly, "What are they going to do? Offer a lollipop for each question? Because I'm sure that she's going to bore of that pretty quickly".

"They need to record the interviews with their own officials which includes a child psychologist", Maura responded with a sigh.

Jane grumbled, "We could've recorded it and they could have given us their shrink".

Maura rolled her eyes, "I know you would have preferred to have the BPD do the interview rather than the FBI but this is.. This is just how it has to be okay?".

Jane sighed, annoyed.

"They'll probably let you sit in Jane", Frost interrupted, "I mean… if you're right and she doesn't talk to them then what choice do they have?".

"Don't give them ideas Barry", Maura said softly, "This morning, the two of them were trying to convince me that they were both asleep". She paused looking down at them, "Whilst they were talking".

"We were asleep weren't we Allie?", Jane asked the little girl with a cheeky grin.

The little one sat up slightly and nodded, the men watched to see if she would talk but she did not utter a single word.

Maura simply rolled her eyes, "You were not… you just didn't want to get out of bed".

Jane pouted, "Allie", she said to the little girl, "You gotta back me up here… tell her that we were asleep, okay?".

Alessandra looked at Maura and repeated what she had been told to say, "We were asleep", her voice was very quiet and the two men struggled to hear it.

Maura raised an eyebrow as Jane nudged the child, "Louder", the Detective requested.

"We were asleep", she said with a little more confidence before returning to hide against Jane.

"Oh really?", Maura questioned, "So I didn't hear you talking under the covers then?".

Jane nudged the child.

Alessandra looked up at Maura again, "Jane said we were sleep talking", she said softly.

"And were you?", Maura asked her with amusement.

"No", the little one responded honestly, making Jane's jaw drop slightly whilst the other three laughed.

"You madame", Jane said jokingly before starting to tickle the little one, making her screech with giggles and squirm in her lap.

The sound of the child's laughter flooded from the bullpen, into the surrounding offices and into the hallway. The sound created a flood of smiles, a contagious happiness that seeped into each of those who heard it.

* * *

 **A/N: 'Day Three' will now be split over two chapters - the first interview will be up next…**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for the review, I am glad that you are enjoying the story and that you are loving 'Saving Maura'. I will be updating that one soon, most likely won't be until the completion of this story however.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thanks again for your review. I quite enjoy putting details in as it means I can write it exactly the way that I see it in my mind, and if I am unsure on something it gives me the chance to research the most random of things that otherwise I might not necessarily look into. Engaged, married and kids does sound good but there is not a sequel currently in the works - that does not mean that there never will be as I have quite enjoyed writing this story. Once I have completed this one, then I will be working on completing 'The Perfect World' and 'Saving Maura' (both of which will probably only be around 10 chapters each).**

 **Jjswinnlive - That is exactly what I keep doing which is why I keep detouring from my plan...and why this chapter is now split. Thank you again for the review.**

 **Tasheika. Conley - Thank you again for your review.**


	30. Wednesday, January 4th - Part II

The walls were painted in a shade of lemon yellow that gave a false impression of happiness to those who were unfortunate enough to have to enter the room and have to speak of the evil that they had witnessed.

Framed and hung upon the wall were a multitude of different characters in an attempt to make the room appear to be more child-friendly.

No windows were present in the room at all and the room was solely lit by the artificial strips of sunlight that shone down from the ceiling, giving a slightly clinical feel to the room.

Covering the floor was a thinning dark blue carpet that had been worn down in some places but it was freshly cleaned and had a variety of colourful rugs covering multiple areas. There were four rugs in total; one shaped like a black and white soccer ball with a green border, one designed as a 'Snakes and Ladders' board game with the primary colours resulting in a bold appearance, one was decorated as if it were a game of 'Hopscotch' with pictures of flowers scattered all over it, and the last was shaped like a fairytale castle which was a powder pink colour with lilac turrets and featured a flying fairy creature in the air around it.

A circular table was slightly off center to the room with the two chairs facing the one way mirror. The table had black metal legs and a dark wooden top whilst the chairs were small, blue plastic seats much like what would be found inside of a classroom. On top of the table were a few plastic pots that were filled with various crayons, pencils and felt tip pens. Near to the drawing supplies was a small pile of paper; some of the sheets were plain and others were printed with various shapes to form colouring pictures.

The centre of the room had been left clear in order to create a play space for the occupant of the room.

Surrounding the play area were a few wooden shelves with some plastic baskets that were filled with a range of toys. The toys had mostly been donated to the room by various members of law enforcement as their own children had grown out of the items.

There was a red plastic toy parking garage which was decorated with a multitude of garage stickers and was accompanied by a shoebox filled with a large range of toy cars. It featured a small car lift that could be moved up to the higher levels, a slope that could be used to let cars glide to the bottom of the ramp and even a barrier to prevent cars from leaving or entering. Each parking space was marked off with white lines and featured on all four levels of the play car garage.

Beside it was also a large wooden doll house which had been left open and that contained a multitude of different people inside. The wooden house was made from bare wood and it had not been painted at all. It was rather basic with two rooms downstairs, two upstairs and then an attic room. On each level there was one small room and one large room, the stairs filtered through the large rooms and gradually ascended up into the attic space of the toy home. The roof was flipped open making it fold back on itself and reveal the large loft room.

The small room downstairs had been arranged to look like a kitchen with things such as a sink, stove, fridge and even tiny little plates. Beside the kitchen room was a larger room which had been arranged to look like a dining room as well as a living room. At one end was the dining table with six little wooden chairs surrounding it, whilst at the other end was a sofa, two little armchairs, a coffee table and a miniature television set.

Up the first flight of tiny little wooden stairs was a large room that had been decorated to appear as if it were a bedroom. It had a set of bunkbeds in the middle with a set of wardrobes to the side of it. A few little toys such a bear were also scattered in the room. Through the doorway was a smaller room that appeared to be a bathroom which featured a small bathtub, a sink, a toilet and even a little mirror attached to the wall.

On the next level was a single large room, decorated to be a master bedroom with a doll's double bed in the middle and a couple of bedside tables along with a dresser, some drawers and a wardrobe.

A small basket was sat beside the house with a multitude of other items inside of it for the house, including a range of people and even pets. There was a little boy in red shorts and a blue top, a little girl with red hair that had been set into a braids, a black and white spotted rabbit, a black cat with a red collar and even a small doll that seemed to be dressed in purple wizard's robes.

There was also a pink doll's pram with a doll inside of it, a small crib and even a small scale highchair. The items were made of the same pink fabric that contained a printed yellow duck pattern all over it. The doll was wearing a little pink baby onesie along with a white bib and it had a plastic white pacifier jammed in between it's painted lips. On top of it's head was a little bit of painted on brown hair that seemed to be in a swirl like pattern.

Other toys were scattered around too such as; an oversized sandy coloured teddy bear that stood at around three feet tall, a pink fluffy bunny rabbit, a redheaded ragdoll with button eyes, and a toy silver spaceship with cartoon aliens printed upon the sides in a way that made them look as if they were looking out of the windows of the ship.

Agent Derrick Jackson was stood outside of the children's interview room with Agent Jennifer Summers, Agent Maria Lopez, Agent Shemar Morgan and Doctor Melody Kingston.

Agent Jackson had short dark hair with green eyes, his hands were on his hips and he was wearing a charcoal coloured suit with a very pale blue shirt beneath it and a pair of black shoes on his feet. He was briefing the others on what they were to do and running over what needed to be done that day.

"Agent Lopez", the tall man said in the direction of one of his female agents, "You will be going into the room and interviewing the child, whilst Doctor Kingston advises you via your earpiece where necessary".

Maria nodded, "Yes Sir", she replied instantly with a short nod of her head, her dark hair was wound up into a tight bun and she wore a black skirt suit with a burgundy blouse and matching high heels.

"There will be some questions Agent Lopez that the little girl will not be able to answer or…", Doctor Melody Kingston looked around, "...not wish to respond to and in that case I will need you to follow my instructions". The woman had shoulder length corkscrew blonde curls, blue eyes and she wore dark brown trousers with a slight flare to them along with a white cross over jacket and a set of dark leather boots. She did not dress like the agents so she stood out a little from the group.

Agent Jackson nodded, "Summers, and Morgan", he said firmly, "You will both be in the observation room with me".

Agent Shemar Morgan nodded, as did Summers. Shemar had dark brown eyes with very very short dark hair and he wore a black suit with a dark coloured shirt but no blazer.

The sound of heels hitting the floor began to sound throughout the hallway and the FBI employees looked up to see Doctor Maura Isles walking along the hallway beside Detective Jane Rizzoli.

Maura Isles was wearing an emerald off the shoulder dress with black high heels and was carrying a matching handbag.

Jane Rizzoli was wearing her usual black trouser suit with a blue t-shirt beneath it along with her usual black boots. Her belt with badge and firearm were on her waistband despite the fact that she was not currently on duty.

In the Detective's arms was a bundle, the little girl was still wrapped up in the woman's blazer so all that you could see of the child were her legs dangling from beneath the dark fabric. Their eyes focused on the little light blue shoes and long white socks that were visible from the jacket.

"Good Afternoon Doctor Isles, Detective Rizzoli", Agent Summers said as soon as they were close enough to the group, "As you know this Agents; Summers, Lopez and Morgan". As he spoke he indicated to each of them, "And this is Doctor Melody Kingston, she is the psychologist who will be instructing and observing the interview today".

Doctor Melody Kingston stepped forward and offered her hand, "It's nice to meet you, you must be… Doctor Isles?", she said formally, her English accent standing out very clearly.

Maura nodded, "It's… nice to meet you too Doctor Kingston", she said politely as she shook the woman's hand.

She offered her hand to Jane next, "And Detective Rizzoli", she said softly, "It is nice to meet you, I have heard a lot about you".

Jane's eyes flickered to the little girl who was clinging to her before flicking back towards the Doctor, "You too", she said without offering her hand, "I erm… would but…".

Melody nodded, "I understand, you don't wish to let go, it is perfectly understandable", she said softly before bending slightly to try and make eye contact with the hidden child. When she failed to manage it she looked up towards Jane for permission, "May I?", she questioned as she indicated towards the blazer.

The Detective raised her eyebrow at the woman, as if to say ' _May you do what?'._

Doctor Kingston smiled softly, "I just want to take a look at her and introduce myself", she explained politely and calmly.

Jane nodded, "Hey Allie", she said quietly as she began to remove the blazer from the child, lowering it slightly, "There are some new people for you to meet, is that okay?".

As the blazer was lowered, a little girl was revealed from beneath it, her dark curls were brushed and clean. A blue ribbon was tied around her hair to hold it back from her face which left a medium sized bow slightly to the right on top of the girl's head. She had on a dark blue cape coat, the matching hat had been placed into Maura's bag. The little one looked around at the people, her bright blue eyes widened with fear as she buried into the dark haired Detective even more.

"Hello Allie", Doctor Kingston said with a smile, "May I call you that?". Her question was soft and polite, she was observing the child as she spoke.

Alessandra looked up at Jane for confirmation and reassurance. The woman smiled and nodded briefly so Allie looked once more at the Doctor and nodded.

"Well, Allie", she said with a gentle expression, "My name is Doctor Melody Kingston but you can call me Mel if you'd like to? Would you like that?".

She blinked. She did not speak at all. She only watched the woman.

Melody continued however and was not put off by the little one's silence, "Inside that room", she said indicating to the room nearby, "are lots and lots of different toys for you to play with, would you like to go and play with them?".

The little girl looked at her suspiciously, glancing between her and the room that had been pointed to.

"It's okay", the psychologist reassured her, "It's safe and there are lots of different toys inside". "There are dolls, do you like dolls?", Melody asked softly.

Soft dark curls bounced slightly as the little girl nodded in response to the woman's question, but instead of speaking, she put out her hand towards Maura and pointed to the woman's bag.

Melody watched the interactions between the three of them carefully, knowing that it could be helpful for the interviews.

Maura pulled out a china doll from the bag and handed it over to the little girl, she seemed to know exactly what the child wanted.

Alessandra repeated the gesture that she had used in the hospital to thank the nurse, using an American Sign Language motion to signal a 'thank you', although there was no evidence that the little one knew much more than that particular phrase.

Doctor Isles smiled at her and ran a finger down the little girl's cheek softly.

"Is this your doll, Allie?", Melody asked softly towards the child.

Alessandra nodded.

"Could you tell me her name?", the woman asked.

Silence. The child simply stared at the woman and said nothing.

"Do you like teddy bears?", the blonde woman asked politely.

Again the little one said nothing.

"There is also a dollhouse", Melody tried again, "And there is lots of things that you can use to draw or colour in a picture". "Would you like to draw some pictures?", she asked.

The little girl was silent as she looked up at Jane with a tilted head and then at Maura.

Melody then decided to attempt a slightly different way, "Would you like Detective Rizzoli and Doctor Isles to come in with you?", she asked softly.

This time, the little girl responded with a nod and a smile.

"Okay", she said softly, "How about you play for a while in the room, okay?".

Alessandra nodded.

"If you'd like to take her in Detective, we will let her become more comfortable in the room before we start the interview process", she said professionally.

Jane simply nodded and carried the child into the room.

Maura paused at the doorway when Melody gently put her hand on her arm, "For the first five minutes we will have you both play in there with her to get her used to the room, then you will come out and we will send in the agent conducting the interview before eventually Detective Rizzoli will also come out leaving the interviewer alone with her".

Jane was kneeling down with the little girl in front of her, she had removed the blazer and hung it on the back of one of the chairs before taking off the Alessandra's coat and placing it with her own. The little one's dress was brand new, very clean and had a little bit of white lace trim around the edges.

Doctor Isles nodded, "That sounds acceptable but as you saw just now there is no guarantee that she will speak to anyone".

"I understand", Melody said to the woman, "I will speak with Agent Jackson and see if he would be willing to allow me to do the interviews myself".

Maura nodded before stepping into the room and the psychologist went into the observation room behind the one way mirror.

"What would you like to do Allie?", she asked softly to the little girl in her lap.

The little girl sat tapping her finger against her lips for a moment as she thought.

"How about some drawing?", Maura suggested.

"Or the doll house?", Jane asked, "Or maybe the cars?".

Alessandra bit her lip slightly, she felt more relaxed than she had been because it was only Maura and Jane with her in the room. "Dolly", she said softly.

"You want to play with your dolly?", Maura asked softly.

"Yes please", the little one responded politely with a smile as she stood up with her doll in her hand.

Jane smiled, "Hey look what I found", she said with playful excitement as she pulled the crib, highchair and stroller over into the centre of the room, "Do you think Dolly would like these?".

Alessandra shrugged slightly, unsure.

The dark haired woman smiled and put her hand out, "May I?", she asked as she touched the doll.

The little girl let go of the doll as Jane took it from her, she did not hesitate in letting the woman take hold of it.

Jane held the doll up and dramatically whispered to it, before putting her ear near the toy's 'mouth'. The woman who was known for being strict with criminals and a total 'badass' was sat in a playroom, nodding her head, pretending that a doll was speaking to her and she smiled to Alessandra, "Dolly says that she would _love_ to play with them". The emphasis that she put on the word 'love' put a smile on Allie's face and made her giggle.

"Okay", Alessandra said softly as she moved closer to Jane, handing the doll to the woman.

Carefully, she took the doll from the little girl, "Do you think she is tired?", Jane said indicating to the crib.

Allie shook her head, "No, I… I don't think so".

"How about hungry?", Maura asked with a smile, joining in.

Alessandra thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

Jane held the doll out to her, "Would you like to put Dolly into the highchair so that she can have her dinner?".

"Dinner?", she asked as if the woman was crazy, "But she hasn't had lunch yet".

Maura laughed and shook her head, "Silly Jane", she said jokingly.

"Silly Jane", Alessandra copied, "You have to have lunch first".

Jane chuckled and shook her head, "Silly me", she said with a smile, "How about you put her in her chair so that she can have her lunch?".

Alessandra took the doll and carefully put it into the highchair.

"What is dolly having for lunch then, Allie?", Jane asked with a smile.

Maura pulled out a basket of plastic foods from the shelving units, and put it onto the floor in front of them, "Do you think this food would be okay for Dolly?", the woman asked softly.

Alessandra nodded, "Dolly loves it", she said happily as she knelt down on the floor between the two women with the doll in front of her.

"So we have… bananas…", Maura said softly, "...and mango… and a… red pepper...and a french fry".

Jane had to bite her lip, to try and not laugh at the look on Maura's face as the woman named the weird looking plastic 'foods'.

"I think Dolly wants…. A pancake", she said tugging the small pancake from the basket.

"You really do like your pancakes don't you?", Jane asked with a smile.

Alessandra grinned and nodded, "They're the best!", she exclaimed enthusiastically.

"The best, huh?", Jane asked, "Even better than Gnocchi?".

The little girl's bright blue eyes went wide and she shook her head, "No… not better than Gnocchi".

Jane smiled, "But the best breakfast aren't they?".

Alessandra nodded with a huge smile, "Definitely".

"What will dolly have with her pancakes?", Maura asked with a smile as she pulled out a few items from the basket including; a strawberry, a pot of honey, an unidentified bottle of sauce and a jar of jam.

The little one looked around at the various plastic food items and smiled, "She'll have…", she paused as she thought, "...strawberry with….red pepper and ketchup!". As she said each item, she picked them up from the floor and put them on the table of the highchair in front of the doll.

Maura cringed making Jane laugh, "That's… an interesting choice".

Jane continued to laugh, "I think that is Maura's way of saying it's gross".

Alessandra giggled.

"Did you… by any chance… choose those items because of the colour?", Jane asked gradually.

The little one giggled again and nodded, "Yep!".

"I thought so", Jane grinned, "Go Sox!".

"Go Sox!", the little one copied, putting both of her fists up into the air too in the same motion that the Detective had just done.

Maura smiled brightly as she watched the two of them together. Alessandra had thrown herself into Jane's arms giggling. The cast did not seem to bother the little girl at all and Maura was so glad that the little girl's cough seemed almost non-existent. They had been concerned at first that the cough had been something much more serious but now that she was on antibiotics, had been given an extra boost of oxygen and was in a much healthier environment, she seemed to have improved dramatically.

After playing with the doll for a while, the door opened up to reveal Agent Maria Lopez standing in the doorway.

At the sound of the door opening, the little girl's eyes went wide and she clambered into the closest lap, she clung to Maura and buried her face into the woman's hair.

The woman in the doorway had a clipboard in her hand and a file, "Doctor Isles", she said softly, indicating for the woman to come out with her.

Alessandra continued to 'hide' in Maura's honey blonde locks.

Maura had become so distracted with playing with the little girl that she had momentarily forgotten why they were there to begin with. She nodded in response to the agent before leaning over to speak softly to the child, "I'll be back soon, okay? I'll just be outside with the agents". She had already informed Jane of the plan but not Alessandra.

Little Allie looked up at Maura's face, "Promise?", she asked in a very quiet whisper.

Doctor Isles nodded, "I promise".

"Pink promise?", she asked holding up her little finger.

The Medical Examiner looked confused.

Jane moved closer, carefully picked up Maura's hand before positioning the woman's small finger to hook with the little girl's. "I'll explain later", Jane whispered, "Just say the words 'I promise', okay?".

Maura nodded, "I promise", she said out loud to the child.

Alessandra nodded, "Okay", she replied before climbing out of the woman's lap and straight into Jane's lap. She clung to her, she was rather nervous about the woman in the doorway and so she refused to speak out loud like she had done. She only whispered.

Agent Lopez stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

The little girl buried further into Jane, her eyes watching the dark haired woman with suspicion.

"Hello Alessandra", the woman said politely, "My name is Agent Maria Lopez but you may call me Maria. I was wondering if I would be allowed to play with you and Detective Rizzoli for a while?".

Her question was met with silence. The little girl simply stared at her.

" _ **Doctor Isles' suggests you ask Detective Rizzoli's permission to play… if she thinks that the Detective allows it then she will more than likely deem it to be safe", Doctor Melody Kingston's voice came through the earpiece that Agent Lopez was wearing.**_

"Detective Rizzoli", she said softly, "Do you think it would be okay if I were to join in on your game?".

Jane raised an eyebrow at her, although knowing what the woman was attempting to do, she reluctantly nodded. "Sure", she said with false enthusiasm, "Wouldn't it be great to have someone else play too Allie?".

Alessandra looked up at Jane with an eyebrow raised and a slightly tilted head before shaking her head, "Not really", she grumbled.

Jane smirked at the little girl's response, Maria did not seem too impressed and behind the glass the others were laughing.

" _ **Ask her if she would like to draw some pictures", Doctor Kingston suggested.**_

Maria regained her composure and smiled, "Would you like to draw some pictures?", she asked softly, "There are lots of colours over there with paper and colouring pages". She stood up and put her hand out towards the little one.

Alessandra stared at her, looking between her face and her hand but not saying a word.

"Allie?", Jane said softly, "Would you like to draw some pictures?".

Jane's question, unlike Maria's, did actually get a response and the little girl nodded before pointing to Jane silently.

"I'll come too", she said softly with a smile.

Agent Maria Lopez was a little unsure of herself and it showed, "That's great", she said softly as she moved to the table.

Jane moved to the table with the little girl clinging to her side, and she knelt down on the carpet by the table.

Alessandra sat down in Jane's lap, ignoring the existence of the chairs completely.

"Would you and your doll like to sit on the chairs?", Maria suggested with a small wave of her hand towards the chairs.

The little girl looked at the chairs and then back at the woman before sighing heavily.

"Look", Jane said, carefully taking the dolly and placing it onto a chair, "Doesn't dolly look great sitting up in the chair?".

Alessandra looked at the doll and after a moment she nodded.

"Do you think you could do what dolly is doing too?", Jane asked softly.

 **Inside of the observation room, Frost and Korsak watched on amazed as they watched their colleague working so well with the little girl. They had entered the room whilst Maura was in playing with Jane and Allie.**

" **Soon we will have Jane come back out and we'll leave Agent Lopez in there with Alessandra", Agent Jackson said to the people in the room.**

" _ **Agent Lopez, get Allie to start drawing and when she seems a little more settled then Detective Rizzoli will be called out of the room", Doctor Kingston said through the microphone.**_

Alessandra was hesitant but Jane smiled and spoke softly, "If you sit up there in that chair then you'll be able to reach the colours much more easily".

Reluctantly the little girl moved over into the chair, Jane knelt up and hugged the child, "Good girl", she said with a smile.

Jane pulled a piece of paper over and set it in front of Alessandra Mai and then pulled one of the tubs of colours closer to the little girl.

" _ **Ask her to draw her home", Melody said softly, "The one that she lived in with her parents and siblings".**_

Alessandra did not let go of Jane, her tiny hands continued to grasp the woman's top and her head remained firmly attached to the woman's shoulder.

"Alessandra", the woman said as she observed the Detective with the child, "Would it be okay if you were to draw me a picture of your house? You know the one where you lived with your Mommy and Daddy?".

She looked at the crayons, then at the paper before back up to the woman but she said nothing.

"If you draw a picture of the house then when Maura comes back, you can show it to her", Jane suggested kindly, "Would you like that?".

Alessandra leaned over and whispered into Jane's ear.

Maria Lopez looked at the one way mirror and threw her hands up slightly, it was a silent gesture to ask 'what do I do?' because the child seemed to respond to Jane but not her - this was a new concept to her.

" _ **Just stick with it Agent Lopez", the psychologist said firmly.**_

"She will be back very soon", Jane replied to the little girl out loud, "I promise you, Maura is just fine".

The little one whispered again, seemingly refusing to speak out loud.

"Because Allie…", Jane said softly, "If something was wrong with Maura, then I would know".

Alessandra whispered again.

"How would I know..?", Jane said, repeating the child's question, "I would know… because I would feel it". She took the little girl's hand and pressed it over her heart, "I would know it in here".

" **Aw who would know that our Janie is such a softie", Frost said with his hand over his own heart.**

 **Korsak laughed, "Don't let her hear you say that or she'll castrate you and you know it".**

 **Maura was watching Jane with a soft smile gracing her lips and a look of pure love in her eyes.**

That seemed to be a satisfying answer as the little one nodded but did not say anything.

"So… will you draw the house for me?", Jane asked softly, picking up a crayon and offering it to the little girl who was now sitting better in the seat.

Alessandra reached out and grabbed a second piece of paper before passing it to Jane silently.

"You… want me to draw?", Jane asked softly as she looked between the paper and the child.

The little one nodded, before whispering, "Show me your Mammina's and Papa's house too?".

Jane smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll draw my Mammina and Papa's house if you draw yours", she said out loud.

Alessandra seemed quite happy with that agreement and she began to draw the house from memory.

After a couple of minutes, the door opened again and this time it was Maura standing there, "Jane, Could you come out here for a moment please?".

The sound of the door and then the woman's voice triggered the little girl's head to shoot up instantly, she dropped the crayon and ran at the woman eagerly, knocking the chair over in the process.

Maura knelt down and scooped up the child, "Have you been a good girl?", she asked softly, despite knowing the answer.

Alessandra nodded, leaning in as she spoke, "Please can we go back to your home now?", she asked politely.

Doctor Isles bit her lip, hesitating to answer as she watched Jane get up from the floor and make her way over, "I have to go and do something first but if you could be a really good girl for me and stay here with Agent Lopez then we will get ice cream on the way home", she said softly, "How about that?".

"Oooh ice cream", Jane said from behind her, "Now that sounds great".

Maura raised her eyebrow at Jane and smiled with a shake of her head.

The little one shook her head, "I don't want to stay with Agent Lopez", she said quietly, glancing over at the woman.

"I know Tesoro", Jane said softly, "But don't you want to finish your picture for Maura?".

"I can finish it at yours", the little girl responded quickly, "I'll be really good...I won't even ask for ice cream.. I… please don't make me stay".

Maura bit her lip, struggling a little.

"We don't have any colours at home Allie", she said softly, "We won't be long, I promise you".

Alessandra still looked nervous.

"I have an idea", Jane said before carefully plucking the little girl from her girlfriend's arms and placing her on the floor.

The little one stood frozen on the ground, watching the Detective carefully, "How about you wear my jacket?", she said putting the jacket on the child, "And I will even let you borrow my badge".

As her sleeve was pulled up and the badge placed into her palm, the little girl smiled, "Superhero badge", she said softly.

"That's right", Jane replied, "A superhero badge, which means that you're safe and I promise you that if anything is wrong then I will come to you straight away, do you know why?".

Alessandra nodded, "Cause you'll know", she said as she pointed towards the woman's heart, "in here".

Jane smiled brightly, "I sure will kiddo", she said as she embraced the child, "Maura and I will be back real soon okay?".

The little one was clearly not truly happy about the concept but she did nod and embrace the woman, "Okay", she said very quietly.

Maura kissed her head, "I'll see you soon Allie".

Alessandra smiled in response as Jane led her back to the table and got her settled once more.

Jane and Maura stepped out of the room and gave a wave to the little one who waved back, although the little one did not have the false smiles on that the two women did. The little girl's expression was more of a 'why are you leaving me here?' or 'please don't go' expression, her bottom lip was slightly protruding, her eyes widened slightly and her shoulders slumped.

As the door was closed, Maura brushed away a tear quickly from her cheek.

"She'll be okay Maur', and anyways if she isn't then I'm going back in", Jane said as she wrapped the smaller woman in her arms.

Maura nodded in her embrace before they moved to the observation room.

 **A/N: Maybe three parts? Next will be the FIRST interview... FIVE chapters to go (unless the story decides to change that...).**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review, I am having quite a lot of fun writing their relationship.**

 **Sweetkid45 - The story is almost over but the case details have not yet fully begun to be revealed. Little Allie has her story to tell. Also.. the case may not be as … 'over' as what it appears. Thanks for reviewing.**

 **Linda. S. Allen - Thank you for the review. I do the same thing, the moment I read something then the image comes into my mind. I like putting the detail because it allows me to describe the scene that I am seeing in my head.**

 **Dd113 - Thank you for reviewing and for spotting my error, my brain must have been fried when I wrote it because I for some INSANE reason was thinking National Baseball League… which is stupid for someone who actually watches the MLB and the NBL but oh well… Lots of memories and flashbacks coming up!**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for reviewing, Hope all is okay.**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for your review.**


	31. Wednesday, January 4th - Part III

The little girl remained sat in the exact same position that Jane had placed her in, she reached out to grab her doll and placed it in her lap, holding it to her with her casted arm as she fiddled with the 'superhero badge' using her right hand. She did not speak, nor did she make any form of eye contact with the FBI Agent.

 **Jane placed her hand at the base of Maura's back and led her back into the observation room.**

" **Hey", she said softly as greeting towards her colleagues who smiled in return.**

" **Hey…", Frost said softly, "You know you er… you were real good in there Jane".**

 **Jane smiled slightly and nodded, "Thanks".**

 **Korsak nodded his agreement, "Real good Janie".**

 **Maura and Jane were both watching the little girl in the room, neither wanting to be on the side of the glass that they were currently on. The Detective wrapped her arm around the smaller woman and tugged her close, holding her against her as she kissed the top of her head.**

Alessandra remained totally silent. It was clear that she was watching the agent out of the corner of her eye but that she was not going to make any contact with her.

" _ **Try and get her to continue with her picture", Doctor Kingston suggested through the communications device.**_

Maria leaned forward and nudged the paper slightly, making the child jump and go wide eyed.

" _ **Don't go any closer Agent Lopez", Melody warned the woman.**_

Agent Lopez bit her lip lightly, "Alessandra", she began, "Would you like to continue with your drawing?".

She was met with a silent stare.

"I really would like to see what your home looked like", Maria said with a smile.

Alessandra looked down at the paper where the woman's manicured fingernail had tapped the edge of the white surface. She said nothing.

" _ **Tell her that Doctor Isles…", Doctor Kingston paused, "...no tell her that… tell her that Maura will be back soon and ask her if she is going to finish the picture for her".**_

The woman observed the little girl for a moment before speaking, "Maura will be back soon", she said softly.

Alessandra's face lit up slightly and she looked towards the door, as if she were expecting to see her standing there in the doorway.

When she saw that the honey blonde woman was not in fact standing there, or anywhere in sight, her face dropped once more and she seemed to look even sadder than she had done previously.

 **Maura put her hand to her mouth, trying to force back the tears as she watched the little one's reaction. To see the little one disappointed was hard enough but to know that it was because** **she** **was not there was much, much harder on her.**

 **Jane ran a hand up and down the woman's back, "She'll be okay Maur', we'll have her back soon and we can take her for that ice cream you promised her".**

"Wouldn't you like to finish off the picture so that when she comes then you can give it to her?", Special Agent Maria Lopez said softly to her.

Alessandra looked at the paper in front of her with the partially drawn house, then she looked at the door where she had seen both women walk out of before finally looking up at Maria and nodding.

"Good girl", she said towards the child.

The little one sighed and picked up her crayon before she began to complete her drawing. She was colouring in sections, putting trees and flowers in the front as well as putting in people.

" _ **Ask her about the drawing", Doctor Kingston requested, "Who are the people in the picture?".**_

"Can you tell me about the drawing, Alessandra?", Maria asked kindly towards the child.

Little Allie did not utter a single word as she continued to draw, colouring in the bright blue sky.

"Alessandra", Agent Lopez tried again, "Could you tell me about the people in the picture please?".

She jumped back slightly at the sound of the woman's false manicured nail hitting the paper.

" _ **Be careful Agent Lopez", the warning came through the earpiece that the agent was wearing.**_

"I would like you to tell me about the people in the picture Alessandra", the woman said with slightly more firmness in the tone of her voice.

Again, she did not speak or make a sound.

" _ **She may not want to tell you let Agent Lopez, you may need to gain her trust first", Melody Kingston said with growing frustration at the agent.**_

"Come on Alessandra", Maria Lopez said firmly, "I need you to tell me about the picture, I need you to tell me about your family". "Is that your mother?", she asked pointing at a tall female in a dress.

 _From beneath the blanket that covered her head, she could see red stained carpet and a hand…_

The little one gasped and dropped the crayon.

" _ **Stop it Agent Lopez", the blonde curly haired English Doctor said quickly.**_

" **She remembered something, Agent Jackson, you have to let me do the interview myself", Doctor Kingston insisted.**

 **Maura was visibly struggling to watch, the pain that was covering the child's face was tearing at her heart.**

" **One more chance and then we'll try it your way", he replied.**

 **Jane turned to him, anger in her eyes, "One more chance? At what? Upsetting her?".**

The little girl gripped the badge again, lifting it back up from the table and started mumbling in Italian.

Maria sighed, "You have to speak up Alessandra", she said in response.

"Jane", Alessandra called out, "Jane!". The little one was becoming increasingly distressed; her bright blue eyes were wide with fear and darting around in a panic, her breathing was starting to become erratic and she was starting to shake. The pain in her voice was evident.

" _ **Try and calm her down", Doctor Kingston said through the microphone, panic was in her own voice too.**_

" **That's it!", Jane declared, "I'm not going to stand here and let you torture her!".**

 **Agent Jackson called out, "Detect...ive", but it was too late, she had already left the room with the Chief Medical Examiner following closely behind her.**

As she continued to repeat the name, she moved back from the table with the doll and badge, and she moved into the corner of the room with the oversized stuffed teddy bear. Her voice grew in volume and she reached such a level that she was screaming her name.

" **I told you I should have done the interviews myself", Melody Kingston snapped at the man nearby.**

" **You think you could do any better?", he questioned.**

 **Melody looked fuming as she spoke, "You know I could have done a hell of a lot better than that"**

The door to the room swung open.

Alessandra was screaming Jane's name at the top of her lungs, gripping the woman's law enforcement badge so tightly that her tiny little knuckles had turned a deathly shade of white.

The moment that Jane set her eyes on the little girl, she seemed to calm and moved forward straight away to scoop up the little girl.

Alessandra looked up as soon as she heard the door, and when she saw Jane, the screaming stopped and she smiled before running to her.

As they made physical contact with each other, Jane scooped her up into her arms and span her, "Sta andando tutto bene", she repeated a few times as she told the little girl that it was going to be okay.

" **You should count your lucky stars that Jane didn't have your head for that", Korsak highlighted.**

" **I did tell you it would be better to have the Detective stay", the Doctor insisted. The woman was telling the truth, at the start of the planning of the interviews, she had suggested that allowing the woman to remain would be in their best interest - he of course thought he knew better.**

The little one was still shaking as she clung as best as she could to the woman by using only her good hand. Her casted one was pressing the doll to her whilst her fingertips now held the badge.

Maura threw herself into the embrace, wrapping her arms around the little one too.

Detective Jane Rizzoli wrapped both the little girl and her girlfriend in her arms, holding them close to her.

" _ **Get out of there Agent Lopez", Doctor Kingston almost growled into the microphone.**_

" **Now we do it my way", the woman said firmly to her male colleague.**

Jane sat down next to the bear, leaning back against it and glaring at Agent Lopez as she left the room before cradling the little one to her chest. She put her arm out and tugged Maura to sit down with them.

Alessandra was clinging to Jane but had since calmed down dramatically. There was no more screaming. There was no more shouting. There were no more cries. There was much less eye movement and even her breathing had calmed.

After giving them a couple of minutes, Doctor Kingston entered the room, she came in slowly and calmly. "Hello Allie", the woman said softly, "Do you remember who I am?".

The little girl remained clinging to Jane as she watched the woman and then she nodded.

"That's good", she said softly, remaining in a very calm tone of voice as she knelt down at a safe distance from the child, "I am very sorry that you were upset, are you feeling any better now?".

Alessandra sniffled and rubbed her eye with her 'good' hand before nodding once more.

Melody smiled gently, "That is great", she said softly, "What made you feel better?".

The little girl did not speak but she did respond. She pointed to Jane and then pointed to Maura.

"Det...I mean Jane and Maura?", Doctor Kingston asked, "They are what made you feel better?". She asked despite knowing the answer.

Alessandra Mai Harmon nodded in confirmation.

The woman smiled, "How did they make you feel better?", she queried calmly.

"Safe", the little girl whispered making Jane smile brightly.

Doctor Kingston smiled, "That is very good", she said encouragingly, "I heard that you were drawing a picture of your home, did you get to finish your picture Allie?".

Alessandra looked over towards the table and then back at Melody, before nodding in a positive manner.

"You did?", Doctor Melody Kingston asked with playful amazement, "Wow". "Would it be okay if you were to show me?", the woman asked carefully, "I bet that Maura and Jane would really like to see it too, what do you think?".

Maura Isles was dabbing at her eyes with the back of her hand to cover the fact that she had been so distressed by the panic of the child.

The brightly blue eyed child looked towards the two women, and once each of them had nodded to her, she then looked towards the Doctor and nodded in response to the question.

Doctor Kingston stood up, she was careful in doing so in order for the movement to be slow and calculated. She did not want to frighten the child or cause her any panic.

Jane stood up with the little girl in her arms and then offered her hand to Maura in order to aid her girlfriend.

Once they were settled back at the circular table, the doll was placed back onto one of the chairs but Alessandra remained in Jane's lap.

Maura knelt down beside Jane, whilst Doctor Kingston knelt down opposite them at the table.

"Is this what your home looks like Allie?", the Doctor asked the little girl carefully.

Maura looked down at the picture, it had been drawn very well and had everything there including the tree in the bay window covered in Christmas lights, and the snow outside on the lawn.

 _Maura got out of the car, closing her door but paused as she watched the scene for a moment. Jane was ducking beneath the yellow tape beside an officer after flashing her badge at the young man, Korsak and Frost were to the side talking between each other before turning towards the Detective. Both men looked tired and it was clear by their facial expressions and body language that it was a rough scene._

 _Maura was soon beside the officer and flashing her badge in order to gain access to the crime scene of the Harmon family home. The well dressed Medical Examiner made her way to Jane's side as they discussed what they knew about the case so far in preparation of going into the house beside them so that she could examine the bodies that the serial killer had left behind._

 _"Have they searched the house for the missing child?", Jane asked the men in front of her._

 _They both nodded, "Yeah she's not there Janie", Korsak said softly, recognising that the case was getting to her already._

 _The Italian woman nodded but looking at the house, she simply stated, "I'll check again". Before the others had a chance to comment, she had gone into the house and left them behind her to stand in the front garden of the house._

Alessandra nodded.

"Who did you draw in the picture?", Melody asked softly.

Alessandra paused in silence before looking up at Jane.

Jane nodded, "It's okay", she said softly, "It's safe".

Melody smiled in thanks towards the Detective and then refocused her attention back towards the child, "Could you tell me who this is?", she asked pointing to the woman in a dress.

"Mammina", Alessandra replied in a quiet voice.

"Mammina means your mother, doesn't it?", the Doctor asked to confirm the word.

The little one nodded, "Mammina", she repeated.

"And what about this person, here?", she asked as she moved her finger over the page towards a man that was slightly taller than the mother figure.

"Papa", the little one responded.

"So he is your father?", the woman asked, intending to encourage the little one to speak more.

Alessandra nodded, "Papa".

Doctor Melody Kingston smiled softly, before moving her finger over the paper and pointing at a little child, "What about this little one? Could you tell me who this is?".

"Christian", Alessandra replied swiftly but quietly.

"Can you tell me who Christian is?", the woman asked politely, despite already knowing.

Alessandra looked at Jane, nervousness in her facial expressions.

Jane smiled, "It's okay", she said softly, holding her tightly to her, "I'm right here".

"He's my brother", Alessandra said gently, looking at the crayon drawing on the table.

"Your brother?", Doctor Kingston asked, "Is this your brother too?".

Alessandra looked where the woman was pointing and nodded, "That's Tyler", she responded, "Tyler likes Ice Hockey".

"Ah.. is that what the stick in his hand is for?", the woman asked with a smile, "For him to play ice hockey with?".

The little girl nodded, "And the puck", she said as she pointed to the little black line near the stick.

"Do you like Ice Hockey?", Melody asked as she observed the little one's facial expressions.

Alessandra shrugged, "It's okay", she said softly.

"Is this you?", the woman asked as she pointed to a little girl on the picture.

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she said simply, pausing before continuing, "That's my sister".

"And what is your sister's name?", she asked with a look of interest on her face.

"Kelly", the young girl replied.

"Does Kelly like Ice Hockey like Tyler does?", Doctor Kingston asked with a patient tone.

Her curls flicked as she shook her head, "No, Kelly only likes things if they are pink", she replied, "She likes pink food, pink games, pink dolls, pink clothes… pink.. Everything".

"Do you not like pink?", the woman asked with amusement at how the little one had thrown her hands up in the air as if it were the most ridiculous thing ever.

Alessandra Mai shrugged, "It's okay", she said softly, "But Red is better".

"Why Red?", Melody asked with curiosity.

The little girl looked at her as if she had grown another half a dozen heads, she then looked at Jane confused making the Italian woman laugh.

"Go on Allie", Jane said softly, "Tell Doctor Kingston why red is the _best_ colour in the _entire_ world".

Alessandra giggled at the emphasis that the woman had put on a couple of the words that she had used, "Red Sox of course", she said simply as she raised her cast bound arm up into the air.

"Ah", Melody said softly, "And where are you in this picture?". She was looking over the picture, trying to find her.

"Right there", Alessandra said pointing to the sack on the back of Santa's sleigh.

"And why are you there?", the woman asked gently.

"Because Santa put me in his sack of course", she said as if it were the simplest of answers in the entire world.

Doctor Melody Kingston nodded, "Why did he do that?".

"So that I can go with him to the North Pole", the little girl replied.

"Is Santa who took you that night?", Melody asked.

"Yes", Alessandra replied, "But.. I… I know it wasn't really Santa".

"What makes you say that Allie?", she asked the nervous looking child.

"Santa is supposed to ride his sleigh isn't he?", Alessandra questioned.

Melody nodded, "That's right, he is, isn't he?", she said with a smile.

"Santa didn't have one…", the little girl said softly, "He drove a yucky looking truck". "It didn't even have reindeer pulling it", the little girl said as if it were the scandal of the century.

Her eyes went slightly wide, "No", she said with mock horror, "That is just silly isn't it?".

Alessandra nodded, almost laughing at the woman's reaction.

"What happened on the night that Santa took you with him?", Doctor Melody Kingston asked in a gentle manner, "What did you do before you went to bed?".

The little girl thought for a moment, "Mammina read us all a story".

 _The fire was crackling in the background, the lights were flicking on the Christmas tree and the scent of hot chocolate filled the air._

 _53 year old Thomas Harmon was sat in his armchair wearing blue pyjama bottoms with an old Maine t-shirt._

 _Kelly was curled up in his lap wearing her new pyjamas. The little one had a set of ballet themed pyjamas. The top was white with long sleeves and frills around the edges with a large set of baby pink ballet slippers on the front, whilst the bottoms were the same baby pink colour but with lots of dark pink ballet slippers scattered all over them. The dark pink of the slippers on the trousers matched the laces on the large slippers that adorned the top. She was holding her new stuffed toy which was a little ballerina, and over her lap was her new soft blanket._

 _On the floor, in front of the fire were Christian and Tyler. The two boys were lying on the mat, facing their mother. Christian was wearing his new pyjamas which were Red Sox themed with matching slippers whilst Tyler's were Boston Bruins' official clothing line, his slippers were sat beside him as he had kicked them off only moments previously. Their Christmas Eve boxes were open beside them with their stuffed mascots sticking out of the tops of them._

 _Michelle Harmon was sat on the sofa with her legs propped up and pillows stacked behind her, she was wearing her nightwear beneath a large, oversized fluffy robe._

 _Alessandra was snuggled up in her arms, watching the pages and following the words as her mother read the story._

" _Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."_

 _The woman's voice was soft, it carried through the house like a peaceful song._

" _The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there."_

 _The little one happily snuggled in, her stuffed bear in her arms which was all dressed up in his marine blues._

" _The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.", the mother said before giving her daughter a loud kiss to the top of the head to make her giggle._

" _And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter…."._

"Allie", Doctor Kingston said softly, "Allie?".

The little girl looked at her slightly confused with sadness in her eyes.

"What did your mother read to you?", she asked gently.

"The…. The night before Christmas", the little girl said quietly.

"That is a really good story isn't it, Allie?", she asked with a smile.

Alessandra nodded, "I like… I like the sugar plums when they dance in my head".

Jane smiled holding the child close to her, and without realising it, copied the mother by kissing the top of Allie's head.

Little Allie giggled, "Again", the little girl said happily.

The Detective kissed the little one's head louder this time and repeatedly.

Both of the doctors looked on with smiles as the little one giggled.

"Allie", Doctor Kingston said softly, "Do you think you could tell me what happened after the story?".

Alessandra nodded, "We put out the milk and cookies for Santa", she said as she thought back to that night, "Oh and the carrots for the reindeer too".

 _Michelle closed the book and placed it on the side, "I think it's time to put the milk and cookies out for Santa", she declared in a joyful and happy tone before pressing a kiss to Alessandra's forehead._

 _The little curly haired child nodded eagerly, "Yeah!", she said excitedly as she jumped up, "Come on guys we've got to pick out the cookies!"._

 _Michelle smiled brightly at the child's excitement, and grinned even more when the other three followed her. Despite her boys being old enough to understand that it was not real, they still continued to 'play along' for the benefit of their two sisters who still believed._

 _Thomas followed his wife and kids into the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and pressed a loving kiss to the side of her neck._

 _She leaned back into his embrace and closed her eyes briefly with a soft sigh._

" _Mammina!", Alessandra called out, "Don't go to sleep!"._

 _Michelle laughed and her daughter's antics before smiling at her, "Okay", she said softly._

 _It did not take them long to have it all set-up and ready for Santa's arrival._

The FBI psychologist smiled, "What happened after you put the things out for Santa and his reindeers?".

Alessandra thought for a moment before answering the question, "It was bedtime", she said softly, "We all had to go and brush our teeth first though".

" _Time to brush your teeth!", Michelle announced to her four children._

 _The children groaned, none of them wanted to go to bed or brush their teeth._

" _Do you want Santa to come in the morning?", Thomas asked the kids, "Cause he doesn't come if you don't brush your teeth and go to bed"._

 _The two girls ran up the stairs, eager all of a sudden to brush their teeth. The boys followed behind a little slower._

"Then what happened?", the woman prodded, tugging her from her memory.

"Mammina put me to bed first because I'm the youngest, I asked her to read the story again to me…", she said softly, "Because.. I like the story and I really…. I really like listening to her read".

" _His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.", Michelle read out from the family book yet again._

 _She was happy to read it again and again because she loved to see the bright and happy smile of her little girl, "The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly, That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!"_

" _He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.", Michelle was very devoted to her children, she would do anything to see them happy and she loved the feeling that it gave her when she knew that she was the cause of their smiles and laughter._

" _He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk. And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!", each word was spoken with so much enthusiasm that she managed to give life to the story that otherwise would simply be words on a page._

" _He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"", she ended the story with a loving kiss pressed to her daughter's head, "I love you Allie"._

" _I love you too Mammina", the little girl replied, "I love you this much". The little girl held up her fingers, with the two pointer fingers of each hand pressed against the other, "From this finger", she said wriggling one of them, "All the way around the world to this one", she said before wriggling the other._

 _Michelle smiled happily, "I love you this much too", she said mimicking her daughter's gesture before pressing a kiss to her own fingers and touching them against Alessandra's._

 _The little one had a huge smile plastered on her face as her eyes shone with happiness._

 _The woman smiled happily in return, "I will see you in the morning, La mia bella Alessandra", she said softly, her words translating from Italian as 'My beautiful Alessandra'._

" _See you in the morning Mammina", the little girl said happily._

 _Michelle nodded and tucked her child into bed, "The moment you wake up… you come straight into our bedroom, okay?", she said softly._

 _Alessandra nodded, "Okay Mammina", she said softly._

" _Sogni d'oro", her mother said softly, saying 'sweet dreams' to the little girl._

" _Sogni d'oro Mammina", the little one said in reply as she was kissed on the head._

 _Michelle stood up from her place on the bed, carrying the book with her as she went towards the bedroom door. She paused in the doorway and just before she turned off the light, she whispered, "Ti amo il mio tesoro piccola Alessandra", she said softly, saying 'I love you my darling daughter Alessandra'. She had a smile on her face and love in her eyes as she looked at her daughter._

 _There had not been a single sign of danger that night. Not a single warning that it would be their last night alive. If Michelle Jane Harmon had known that it would be the last night she would live, the last night that she would hug her children, the last night that she would kiss her children, to read to them, to tell them goodnight or even to tell them that she loved them… if she had known then she might have held them that bit tighter.. Or kissed them again… or told them that she loved them just that little bit louder… or maybe kept them in with her that night..._

 _Alessandra smiled happily from her warm placement in the bed, "Ti amo anch'io Mammina", the little one said, telling her mother that she loved her too._

 _She said for the very last time to her mother…_

"Allie", Jane said softly, "Allie… Allie are you okay?".

Alessandra nodded in response but didn't say anything.

"Allie, could you tell me what happened after your moth… I mean after your Mammina put you to bed?", Melody asked softly.

The curly haired child nodded, "I went to sleep", she said softly, "Then I woke up when I heard a noise… but I didn't know what it was.. And it was still really dark outside".

The three adults in the room listened carefully, they did not interrupt the child.

"Then… I heard footsteps, someone was outside my door", she said softly, "I…I thought it was Mammina".

 _She opened her eyes to the darkness of her bedroom, the only light was a tiny little bedlight that was plugged into the wall in the shape of a 'Tinkerbell' fairy which glowed a light green colour._

 _Alessandra looked at the window and saw that it was still dark so she sat up, "Mammina", she called out upon hearing a noise outside of her bedroom, "Mammina, is that you?"._

 _The door began to open._

"It wasn't Mammina though", the little girl said simply.

 _Her parents often joked that not even a hurricane would awake their youngest child as she was such a heavy sleeper. Alessandra sat up in bed as she heard the door opening and someone step inside, she could see that it was a male figure that was not her father, "Santa?", she questioned softly, "Is that you?". She had an air of innocence to her as she asked the question with a tilted head, and she was rubbing her eyes as she tugged her blanket close to her along with her bear which wore it's marine uniform._

 _The man hesitated with his hand on the doorknob before he looked at his other hand where a blood covered scalpel resided, "Look Santa", the little girl said not waiting for the answer and simply assuming it was Santa, she held up her bear, "He has a marine uniform like daddy used to wear"._

 _He didn't understand what made him stop, what made him listen to the young girl or what made him drop the scalpel. That night however it was exactly what he did._

 _He did however move forward and kneel down, telling her, "Alessandra", he said, having read the name from her door, "You..you can come with me to the North Pole". He was looking over her like he would a prize, he knew he could use her to get to the Detective, the appearance was perfect, "Wouldn't that be good?". An offer that of course she thought sounded good, she was after all just a child._

"Santa asked me to go with him to the North Pole", the little girl stated, "I showed him my new bear but I don't have my bear anymore".

Jane bit her lip, she was struggling with the fact that the twisted man had taken the little girl to use in a game, even worse a game to try and get to _her._

"Then he wrapped my fluffy blanket around me that Mammina and Papa had given me in my Christmas Eve box", she said softly, "and then he carried me out of the house with my head covered".

 _He wrapped her in her new fluffy blanket as she clutched her bear to her chest. The man lifted her up into his arms and with her head hidden against him, he walked through the hallway where he stepped over Michelle's body who had attempted to get to their daughter before her death. Carrying the child, he then walked down the stairs and past the other four bloodied bodies of the other family members._

 _The little girl could see the carpet, she could see trails of blood littering the floor with splotches and splashes all over the place but worst of all in the hallway she could see a hand… her mother's hand just lying there._

"Mammina was sleeping on the floor", she said softly, "and somebody spilled the paint".

Maura brushed away tears from her eyes, as she struggled not to cry because she wanted to be there for the child.

 **Those eleven words were enough to trigger tears to spring up into each and every one of the agent's eyes along with Korsak's and Frost's too. It was a childish and innocent way of seeing the horrific scene that they had walked into that day.**

"Then what happened when you got outside?", Doctor Melody Kingston said softly, struggling slightly but managing to hide it well.

The little girl thought for a moment, "Then he put me in his truck and we went away".

 _He placed her in the front seat of his truck and moved to get into his side of the car, it was still dark outside and she hadn't seen him properly. Her innocence allowed her to think that it was Santa despite the differences in the typical appearance of Santa that was depicted within the majority of Christmas imagery._

 _The little girl curled up in the seat of the truck, the innocent child didn't realise the danger that she was in and instead she saw it simply as a trip with Santa or a dream. The little girl was completely unaware that her parents and siblings were deceased at home. A home that she might never see again._

"Do you remember where you went after that?", she asked softly.

The image of her mother's hand limp on the floor kept flashing into her mind, "Mammina", she whispered.

"I think it would be best we continue with the questions tomorrow", Doctor Kingston said softly towards the two adults before looking back at Alessandra, "Allie? Would you like to go with Maura and Jane now?".

Alessandra nodded.

"And then come back tomorrow and we can play again in here?", she asked softly.

The little girl looked suspicious.

"Don't worry", Melody said quickly, "It will just be us… no agents". The last two words were mostly directed towards the one-way mirror that was on the wall slightly behind her, to her right.

Alessandra nodded, "Okay", she said softly.

"Come on then Tesoro", Jane said softly as she got the little one to stand before standing up herself, she felt slightly cramped up having been sat on her knees for the majority of the interview and after shaking herself off a little, she put her hand out to Maura.

Maura smiled softly, "Thank you", she said politely as she took the hand and gradually stood up as elegantly as possible.

The little girl still had hold of her doll and the badge as she put up one arm towards Jane.

Detective Jane Rizzoli smiled and scooped her up in her arms without a moment of hesitation, "Are you ready for ice cream?".

"I...I'm still allowed ice cream?", the little one questioned.

"Of course", Jane said with confusion on her face, "Why wouldn't you?".

"Because… because I made noise", the little one mumbled quietly.

Maura leaned in and pressed a kiss to Alessandra's head, "It's okay", she said softly, "You were really brave and so I think that deserves an extra scoop, what do you think Jane?".

"Oh definitely", Jane agreed.

Alessandra seemed happy with that answer as she snuggled into the woman.

"There is a new ice cream parlour on main street", Maura said with a smile, "We could go there…".

"No Maur', how about another day?", Jane suggested, "Ma already got ice cream in so there is a range of flavours sitting in your freezer right now and…", she looked down at Allie who was looking emotionally exhausted as well as physically, "I'm not sure she's ready".

Maura nodded, "Of course", she said simply before kissing the little girl's cheek, "Another time".

Jane left the interview room with Allie in her arms whilst she held onto Maura's hand. Maura seemed quite happy holding onto the little one's hand and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it as they walked.

They would be back again tomorrow to continue the questions but for now… it was ice cream time for the three of them!

 **A/N: Thank you to all those who have recently added this (and/or me) to their favourite list and/or alert list.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for the review however the little boy that featured in Jane's dream called 'Angioletto' was her son that died so unfortunately I can't write that they raise him. Maybe in a different story?**

 **Designguru86 - Thank you for the review.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for again for your review.**

 **Dmcdroid - Thank you for your kind review.**

 **Jjswinnlive - I sure hope so! Thanks for the review.**

 **Scolton21 - Thank you for your review, sorry to hear about your phone - hope it fixes itself soon.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Unfortunately that day is coming, very soon. I am so glad that you managed to catch up, I have missed you! Well as for my previous comment…. The chapter quantity is bouncing, it was supposed to be 50 to begin with and then 30 and now… well… as you can see we have gone beyond. The case isn't over because she hasn't told her story yet, so there are a lot that the law enforcement do not yet know and have only speculated about or hypothesised. They don't know (a) who was working with Hoyt, (b) all of the locations he took her to, (c ) what happened to the victims, (d) what life was like with Hoyt, (e) why he took the women, (f) what the woman's roles were, (g) what the women did, (h) why he killed them, (i) how many he killed… and so so so many other unanswered questions. Alessandra knows so much more than what those agents could imagine. If a sequel was to be produced then it would be highly likely that it would be triggered by a huge plot twist… but I am not sure if I will end up writing that or if I will simply complete this with possible one-shots thrown in after…**


	32. Thursday, January 5th - Part I

Jane came down the stairs dressed in a pair of black trousers with a maroon coloured top, she ran her hand through her mass of dark curls as she stepped into the kitchen of the home that she shared with her girlfriend. She smiled brightly at the sight that she was met with.

Maura was making coffee, whilst she was dressed in a royal blue blouse with a black fitted skirt along with black designer heels, "Good Morning Jane", she said softly with a cheerful tone as she heard her girlfriend approaching before stopping in the doorway.

Alessandra grinned happily, "Good Morning Jane", she said mimicking Maura.

The Detective smiled happily, "Good Morning", she replied, "How are my favourite girls today?".

Doctor Isles smiled, "Good", she said softly, "Alessandra is eating her breakfast, I have eaten mine already, what would you like?".

Little Allie watched the two of them interacting and without looking at her bowl, she dipped her spoon into it and shoved the spoonful into her mouth. Her face scrunched up immediately and she spat the food straight back into the bowl, she made strange noises and she brushed at her tongue.

Maura looked shocked at her.

Jane however burst into laughter before moving closer to the child, "What's wrong?", she said before reaching her. "Oh Maur', you can't feed a child that", she said gently as she picked up the bowl and moved it to the sink.

"Why not Jane?", she asked with slight annoyance, "It's perfectly good muesli".

"That is exactly why", she stated, "It's muesli, kids don't eat muesli".

The little girl was drinking her milk to get rid of the taste of the strange breakfast cereal.

Maura sighed, "Fine", she said softly, "But you are not giving her that sugar filled cereal that you keep sneaking into the house".

Jane looked over at Alessandra, "Sorry kid", she said softly.

"How about some fruit?", she asked the little one with a smile.

Alessandra nodded, much more eager to eat fruit than she was to eat the strange concoction that Maura had attempted to feed her.

The Italian woman moved towards the fridge, opened the door and looked inside, "Okay kiddo", she said happily, "We have… melon, kiwi, oranges, apples, cherries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries".

Alessandra's bright blue eyes lit up at the word 'strawberries', and she nodded eagerly.

Jane laughed, "Strawberries it is".

"She can't just have strawberries Jane", Maura said firmly before turning towards the little girl, "Would you like a mix of fruits?".

"But mostly strawberries", Jane interrupted.

The little girl nodded, quite happy to compromise from the bowl of purely strawberries although she would have quite happily just eaten a punnet of strawberries.

"Okay", Maura said softly, "I will make you _both_ fruit salads for breakfast".

Jane's jaw dropped ever so slightly before she sighed softly, rolled her eyes and said, "Fine, if I have to".

The little one giggled, "What's wrong with fruit?", she asked softly. "Did you know that strawberries help lower your chances of cardiovascular disease?", she said touching her hand to her chest, "They also help with inflammation, hypertension and even cancer".

Jane stared at the little girl in slight shock.

"And…", the little girl said confidently, "It can help with cholesterol and sugar levels".

"Is...is she right?", the Italian Detective asked, pointing in the child's direction.

Maura paused, having chopped some of the fruits already and placed them into the bowls - she had even done herself a small bowl. "Yes she is, although there are so few studies that the research is rather limited", she said softly.

"It's really like having a mini-Maura in the room", she said with a shake of her head, "Two google mouths...oh boy".

The honey blonde Medical Examiner, jokingly smacked her girlfriend's arm, "Hey!", making the other woman laugh.

"You know I love you", Jane said softly kissing Maura lovingly before moving and kissing Allie's cheek, "So Allie, how do you know all about the magic powers of strawberries?".

Alessandra tilted her head slightly, making her curls fall to the side of her head, "I read it in a journal article", she said simply, "I'm not so sure that it's magic though".

"Well, I say it's magic so it must be, right?", the woman asked.

The little girl nodded, "I suppose so", she agreed softly.

"So you read journals about strawberries?", the dark haired woman asked as she sat down at the breakfast bar on one of the high stools, beside the little one.

"Journal articles", the little girl corrected, "And yes".

"Which study did you read?", Maura asked with a smile as she set the bowls down in front of them.

"The one by.. Han..Ham...Hammam...Hamman…?", the little girl tried to remember but could not, "I'm not sure".

"Hannum?", Maura offered.

Alessandra nodded happily, "Yes, that was the one".

"I read that, I believe it was published in the Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition Journal in 2004… which makes the article older than you are", the medically trained woman said with a smile.

Allie nodded, "Mammina took me with her to BCU sometimes when she would teach and she let me sit in the library with some of her students if she had to go and teach or go into a meeting", she said with a smile, "I liked their library, it went so high up that you can see really far". "For my birthday, I was given a _kindle_ and Mammina fixed it so that I could access the university catalogue on it by using her login information", she said quite happily, "There is so many books and articles and studies on there".

 _Alessandra Mai was dressed in a pair of personalised Frozen Elsa Converse trainers that her mother had purchased on Etsy for the child's birthday. The shoes were light blue with silver laces and had Elsa's picture on the sides of them along with many different diamond-like gems whilst her name was written in silver lettering at the top of the tongue of the shoe. "Aless" had been written on the right foot whilst "andra" had been written on the left foot as her name was too long to fit on one shoe alone like the ones that had been featured in the seller's example photos. She was also wearing a pair of black jeans which featured various sized silver snowflakes on the back pocket which had been embroidered in a glitter thread. The little one wore a long sleeved white top with a short, light blue tutu at the bottom that matched the shade of her Elsa inspired Converse shoes, whilst on the front of it was a picture of both Elsa and Ana together along with pale coloured flowers including; pink and blue, some of the blue were three dimensional and made with a netting type fabric. The DHGate top was her favourite one as she had a very strong fondness for the Disney movie._

 _The little girl was sat happily in the library, on the very bottom level. The bottom level had a balcony around the top of it, a huge glass ceiling so that the sun shone in and made it feel much more open and welcoming. In the middle were a multitude of circular tables, each with a center piece which for many of them were large trees that went high up but not enough to block out the natural lighting. The carpet was a dark navy blue whilst each of the desks were made from a light wood and the chairs were mostly metal framed with blue material seating covers._

 _Along the bottom wall were shelves that moved on rotating wheels so that students and staff could get between the mass of shelves to access the journal articles that they required. To both the left and right side of the huge room were ordinary shelves with various books lining the wooden shelves. There were several levels to the library and they were on a smaller level._

 _On the very outside of the room were desks with computers and in the corner that the little girl was seated in was a group of larger tables which were there for the use of group work for students as it was not a 'silent area' of the library like the top few floors were._

" _I should get going", Michelle said softly to the little one, "Are you sure you're okay to stay here with Annabelle, Julie and Alex whilst I go and introduce the guest lecturer to my first years? Then see one of my dissertation students for an emergency meeting?"._

 _The little girl nodded, "Yes Mammina", she said with a smile, "I will be fine"._

 _The woman paused, clearly unsure, despite having left the little girl with her students before and trusting the three women to watch the little girl, it still made her slightly nervous to leave her - it was a nervousness that had arisen from the traumatic birth of the little girl and the child's health issues._

" _She'll be fine Michelle", Julie said softly, as it was quite normal in the department for students to use the first name rather than their title._

 _Michelle nodded once, "Okay", she said with a small level of confidence, "And you'll call me straight away if anything happens"._

 _Annabelle nodded in reply to her lecturer, "Of course"._

 _Michelle gave her little girl a hug and a kiss before departing so that she could get the things done that she needed to._

 _The three women were working on their dissertations and the little one was quite happily reading an article that Alex had out in front of her, the article was on musical therapy for those with learning disabilities._

 _It did not take her very long to read it before pushing it away from her and getting down to go and get another book. Julie got up straight away and followed her, helping her to pick something interesting to read having already attempted to get the little one to play a game on her own cell phone and failed._

"Well how about we get some of your things from the house and bring them over here?", Jane offered, "Then you can read your books and play with your toys here".

The house had been shut up ever since the crime scene had been processed, only Jane had visited it and only Jane had the key (apart from the one key that was in evidence). The family home belonged to Alessandra as she was the only living heir and it had been paid off in full years previously, which meant that the house could not be sold off.

The little one coughed before nodding, "Yes, please", she said politely.

Maura got up straight away and moved towards the cupboard, extracting a small bottle before grabbing a syringe and moving back to the little one, "Here", she said softly, "I know this doesn't taste nice but you need to take your antibiotics".

The little girl nodded before allowing the liquid to be squirted directly into her mouth.

"Good girl", Jane said softly as the little one sipped at her milk.

After finishing their breakfast, Jane stood up, "Come on then my little turtle, it's time to go to the station", she said softly, putting her arms out to pick the child up from the stool.

Alessandra's head tilted immediately, "Turtle?", she questioned with a confused expression.

"Maura's turtle loves strawberries and so do you which makes you a turtle", Jane explained as if it were the most normal of concepts.

The little one looked even more confused, "Turtles don't eat strawberries", she said with a tilted head, "They eat jellyfish and algae although some eat shellfish".

"Bass is an African Spurred Tortoise", Maura said softly with a smile, "Jane has decided to consistently call him a turtle despite knowing that he is in fact a tortoise".

"Bass", the little one said, "Like William M. Bass?".

Maura grinned and nodded, "That would be correct".

Jane rolled her eyes, "Come on then my google mouths, let's go, maybe we can bring Bass and Jo over from Ma's later tonight?".

"Jo?", the little one questioned.

"My dog", Jane said with a smile, "She's a crazy little fluffball".

The little one put her arms up to Jane who lifted her straight away from the chair but instead of putting her down, she opted once more to carry her before putting her down briefly to help her into her white fluffy coat along with her matching white knitted hat which had a small fur trim around the edge.

Maura and Jane also put on their winter accessories along with their coats. Jane smiled and lifted the child again, "Come on Turtle", she said with a grin, "Would you like to bring your dolly with you today?".

Alessandra thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Yes please", she said softly.

"I'll go and get it from the bedroom whilst you go and strap her into her carseat", Maura said with a smile as she disappeared in the direction of the master bedroom.

Jane had nodded in response before leaving the house, into the cold air in order to put the little girl in her safety seat in the car.

It did not take long before Maura was at the side of the car and handing the doll to the little girl who smiled gratefully, "Thank you", she said politely.

Jane walked around the back of the car in order to get into the driver's seat whilst Maura climbed straight into the passenger seat of the unmarked.

In the backseat of the car, the little girl watched the world go by on the way to the precinct, the light blue sky with randomly shaped clouds seemed to fascinate the little one.

It was not long before they arrived at the Boston Police Department Precinct in preparation for the second phase of interviews for the young girl and as they pulled into the precinct parking garage, the blue sky quickly turned into overhead lights and concrete ceilings with pipes running along them. Instead of clouds, she looked at the various coloured cars that they passed as they made their way towards Jane's designated spot.

For the second time that week, Jane pulled into her parking space, climbed out of the car and made her way around to the other side quickly enough that she managed to open Maura's car door for her before opening up the back passenger door too.

"Thank you", Maura said softly and politely with a smile as she stepped out of the car before closing her door.

Jane simply smiled in response before leaning into the car to unbuckle the little girl and pick her up from her seat.

The little girl was wearing a plum coloured cable knitted dress which had a bow at the waist with a skirt that flowed out slightly along with matching shoes, white tights and a matching white bow in her hair. She had on the same jacket that she had worn the previous day, the material was covering her clothing to keep her warm and her hat covering the top of her head to offer a shield against the cold.

Alessandra smiled happily from her position in the Detective's arms as she leaned her head onto the woman's shoulder and watched where they were going.

Jane stepped close to the wall so that the little girl could hit the button that would order the elevator and as soon as the silver metal doors opened for them, they stepped inside and she did the exact same thing with the buttons on the inside in order for them to go to the floor that they needed to get to. The Detective bent down and stood Allie on the floor before taking off her own jacket and putting it around the little one in order to cover her head from anyone walking by so that she would not be overwhelmed as much as she had the previous day. Once more she picked the little one up into her arms and she was met with a huge smile from Maura.

Maura was watching her girlfriend with the young girl and could not help but smile at how maternalistic the woman was, she felt very lucky to have both Jane and Allie in her life, and she looked forward to spending the rest of her life with the two of them - and hopefully adding to their family in the years to come.

For a very long time she did not even dare to imagine such a possibility with Jane, so to be able to raise a family with the woman was like a dream come true and she was rather excited for the adoption to be finalised. It felt as if they had waited forever for the moment, in reality they had been waiting for just over a year because it had been obvious from very early on in the case that Jane would not simply let the child go into the care system.

Jane and Maura walked through the precinct towards the bullpen first and the moment that they were there, Jane stood the little one down on the floor again, "Are you okay?", she asked in a very caring manner as she brushed a stray curl back behind the little girl's ear.

Alessandra nodded, the jacket over her head had made her tremble slightly but not as much as the sensory overload had done the previous day when so many people wanted to see how she was and to meet her.

Detective Rizzoli smiled softly and embraced her tightly.

The moment that Maura had confirmation that the little girl was okay, she turned to their colleagues and greeted them whilst Jane removed the little girl's coat and hat to put them on her chair.

Jane stood up with the little girl safely on her hip as she stepped forward to her two male colleagues, "Hey", she said softly as the little girl rested her head again on her shoulder, her jacket having been put back on in case the little girl wanted it later.

She had her firearm and badge at her hip despite not being on duty. She had been given a week's paid leave to take care of the little girl whilst the adoption was being processed then both women would be on maternity leave after the adoption had been processed.

The two men greeted both of the women in turn before looking at the little one, "Hey Allie", Frost said softly as he bent down slightly, "Do you remember me?".

Alessandra nodded but said nothing.

Barry Frost smiled, "Did I tell you my name yesterday?".

She shook her head as she remained silent.

"Ah I thought not", he said with a smile, "Would you like to know it?".

The little girl thought about it for a moment before nodding without a single word.

The male detective smiled, "Well my name is Barry… some call me Barry but some call me Frost… so you can pick which one you prefer, okay?".

Jane smiled at her partner, observing how well he was doing with the little girl.

Allie Mai nodded in response to what he said but she did not make a sound.

"Don't worry you have plenty of time to decide which one or you can use both and switch when you feel like it", he said with a smile.

Again she smiled silently at him in response.

"Now what about the old man over there?", he said throwing his thumb backwards in the direction that Korsak was.

"Hey!", he exclaimed, "Less of the old man".

The little girl giggled a little at their interaction, apparently finding it highly amusing to watch and that fact made all four adults smile - even Korsak despite the fact that he had been called an 'old man'.

"So, you wanna know his name?", Frost asked with a grin.

The little girl looked over in the direction of the man in question before glancing back towards Frost and nodding.

"His name… is", the man paused and leaned in ever so slightly, "The Old Man".

"Hey!", Korsak exclaimed again.

The little girl burst into giggles again and Frost grinned at his accomplishment, rather proud of himself.

"Nah", Frost said with a smile, "I'm just kidding with ya, his name is Vince Korsak and I doubt he'll mind which one you decide to call him".

"Just not the old man one", Korsak said with a shake of his head, "I don't mind Vince or Korsak but old man is a no".

The little girl giggled again for a moment.

Jane smiled brightly as she held the little one in her arms and held her close, the sound of her giggling was like music to her ears because at multiple points throughout the investigation she wondered if she would ever hear such a thing come from the little girl.

Maura stepped closer to Jane and brushed her hand over the little girl's cheek.

Bright blue eyes looked up and met with Maura's hazel ones before the little one smiled happily towards the woman.

"It's time for us to make our way around to the interview room", Maura said softly as she stroked the little girl's cheek lovingly as she smiled gently.

Jane nodded, "It was good to see you guys, you'll be at Sunday dinner right?", she asked with a smile.

Both men nodded, "Wouldn't miss it", Frost said with a grin as Korsak vocally agreed with him on the concept, nobody in their right mind would turn down Angela Rizzoli's food, and it would be the first Sunday dinner since Alessandra had joined the family.

As they walked towards the door, Jane paused and turned back around to face the two men, "You know.. You can come and watch the interview if you'd like", she said to them, "I know you did last time so if you want to come with us then you're welcome to".

Korsak and Frost looked at each other before nodding in Jane's direction, "We'll do that", Korsak said with a small smile.

The five of them made their way gradually towards the interview room whilst avoiding anyone who may attempt to fuss over the child although with the three detectives surrounding her, nobody was going to attempt it - especially with how Jane had reacted to it the previous day as it had not taken long for the message to spread that nobody was to go too close to the little one.

Alessandra remained safely wrapped in Jane's arms whilst Maura walked beside her, holding onto the little girl's hand and Korsak along with Frost walked behind them, following them to their joint destination.

They paused outside of the interview room where the FBI agents; Jackson, Morgan and Summers were waiting for them alongside Doctor Kingston who had interviewed the little girl the previous day. Agent Maria Lopez was noticeably absent which was a good thing for her based upon her behaviour the previous day and the fact that none of the detectives would have been fond of the woman's presence, even if she were to remain in the observation room as they had been less than impressed with her 'methods' of interviewing the child.

Jane had been furious the previous day to see the way that the so-called agent attempted to interview the little girl, _her_ little girl. She had been angry enough that her fingernails had dug into her palms as she attempted to keep herself under control until she could not stand it anymore and went into the interview room to put a stop to it. If the little girl had not been there and not needed her so much in that moment then it would go without argument that the woman would not have been leaving the room unharmed.

 _Jane dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands as she listened to Doctor Kingston communicating with the agent that had been left in the room with Alessandra._

 _"She remembered something, Agent Jackson, you have to let me do the interview myself", Doctor Kingston insisted._

 _Maura was visibly struggling to watch, the pain that was covering the child's face was tearing at her heart._

 _"One more chance and then we'll try it your way", he replied._

 _She could not believe that a woman who had supposedly had training from the FBI could be so ridiculously stupid and idiotic in her methods of interviewing. Especially in concern with such a young and rather traumatised child._

 _Jane turned to him, anger in her eyes, "One more chance? At what? Upsetting her?"._

 _"Try and calm her down", Doctor Kingston said through the microphone, panic was in her own voice too._

 _"That's it!", Jane declared, "I'm not going to stand here and let you torture her!"._

 _Agent Jackson called out, "Detect...ive", but it was too late, she had already left the room with the Chief Medical Examiner following closely behind her._

Alessandra curled slightly, snuggling more into the Italian Detective, hiding her face in amongst the woman's mass of dark curls in a way that allowed her to discreetly watch her surroundings through the strands of soft hair.

Jane instinctively held her a little bit closer, running her hand through the little girl's hair in a soothing and rather maternal manner.

"Good Morning Detectives, Doctor Isles", Agent Derrick Jackson greeted them professionally, "And Good Morning to you Miss Alessandra".

The adults gave brief greetings to the man along with his colleagues who greeted them.

"I thought you should know that I have dismissed Agent Lopez from the case and she will be on desk duty for the remainder of the month", the lead FBI agent announced as he knew that it was a question that would be on the minds of them all, "I do apologise for her behaviour, she did want to come and apologise herself but I thought it best that she stay away".

Jane mumbled something in annoyance towards the woman which sounded suspiciously like 'she better for her own safety', it was something that the others let slide because it simply was not a battle that any of the wanted to enter into, especially with the knowledge that it was one that they had no chance at all of winning with the fierce Italian woman.

"Hello Alessandra", Doctor Kingston said softly as she stepped forward, "Are you ready to come and play in the room like you did yesterday?".

Her question was met with silence as the little girl observed her from her position in Jane's arms.

"Would you like to play with your dolly again with the highchair and the crib and the… what was that other one?", the blonde doctor said, tapping her lip to pretend to think, "Hmm… do you remember what else your dolly played with?".

"The pram", the little girl whispered very quietly.

"Ah that was it", Melody said with a smile, "The pram, silly me, I forgot".

The little girl smiled slightly but remained silent once more.

"Would you like Jane and Maura to come in with you again?", she said softly.

Alessandra nodded, nervously before speaking very softly, "Stay", the fear in her voice was evident as she was clearly afraid that they would leave her in the room again like they had the previous time - she did not understand that it was something they were made to do but instead she simply understood that they left.

It helped that they did in fact come back though as it reassured her that even if the two women were to leave then they would return unlike the various women that Hoyt or 'Santa' brought into her life over the time that he held her captive in order to taunt Jane.

Doctor Melody Kingston nodded, "Of course", she said softly, "They can stay for as long as you want them to".

"Forever", the little one whispered making the adults smile especially Jane and Maura who were rather keen on the little girl's response.

Melody simply nodded before she stepped towards the door and opened it wide in order to invite them in.

Jane stepped in first with the little one in her arms and placed her gently upon the floor so that Allie could stand on the carpeted flooring.

Alessandra did not move from the spot that the woman had placed her in and remained so close to the Detective that she was physically touching her as she was standing with her leg against Jane's bent knee. She looked rather nervous and was glancing around the room again.

Maura walked in slightly behind them and smiled brightly at the little one before kneeling down to be closer to the small child's height, she was rather small for her age and it was caused by the lack of substantial nutrients throughout her time with the horrific serial killer who had taken her on that horrid Christmas Eve.

Doctor Kingston smiled watching them, "I will be back in a moment", she said softly, giving them time to play together so that the little girl would once again become a little more accustomed to being the room before she began with her questions.

She had read the files on the kidnapping victim and so she knew the details of the case but what she did not know much like everyone else was what the little girl had gone through herself or what the murder victims had gone through either.

They could only tell so much from the autopsy reports but they knew very little of what happened whilst they were in his 'care'. All they had to go on was the footage that they had obtained which did not give them much other than the fact that it was possible that these women were taken in order to care for the little one.

Their only chance of knowing what had truly happened was to ask the child, they could not ask the women as they had not come across a single survivor throughout the entire investigation.

The main worry for the Doctor along with the rest of those involved with the investigation was not how much information they could get out of the child but what would the effect of getting that information have on the young girl's mind.

The blonde woman also found herself highly concerned with what would happen when the little girl finally realised that her family had been murdered by the man that took her, although they were unsure as to if she knew already but it did not seem as if she knew.

Another concern was how much the child had actually seen. Had she known what happened to the women? Is that why she wrote their names on the wall and/or had the women write their names? Some of the names seemed to be in the child's handwriting but other names seemed not to be. Did she know that those women had been killed? Did she even know that they had been kidnapped? Or that in fact that is what had happened to her? Even worse, had she seen what had happened to those women? Was she there in their final moments? Or had she been shielded from the horrors of the behaviour of Charles Hoyt?

There were so many questions that had gone unanswered for each and every person involved. Their knowledge of the case had gaping big holes in it due to the fact that all they had to go on was the evidence contained within the case files that they had including the autopsy reports.

They could not question Hoyt himself because Jane had already killed him, nor could they question the man who managed to slip under the radar as a security guard as he too had been killed.

The man who dropped off the package for Detective Rizzoli was useless in their endeavor to discover more information on the case because he had refused to speak, and claimed his fifth amendment right each and every time that anyone attempted to question him. The FBI had managed to file charges against him on the basis that he was an accomplice despite his convenient silence and newly acquired selective mutism. He had confessed at first that he had been sent by Hoyt and even given the location of the little one in order for them to 'consider a lower sentence' but not long after that he began his period of silence.

 _26 year old Keith Richards was a 'caretaker' at a local school and had dark hair along with brown eyes. He had refused at first to give his name whilst insisting that the parcel was for Detective Rizzoli but that had not helped him at all because Detective Vince Korsak had managed to discover the man's name rather quickly._

 _Agent Jackson entered the interrogation room with another male agent and both sat down in their seats with their back to the one way observation window/mirror. The second agent read out the details that he needed to for the recording before they started._

 _It was not long before the FBI agents had him confessing as to who sent him and more importantly… the address where Alessandra was apparently being held._

 _The FBI attempted to call Detective Jane Rizzoli to inform her of the information that they had found but it went to answer machine so they decided that they had no time to wait and instead a team were dispatched immediately to the location._

With the only live man out of the picture, the only remaining living witness was the little girl.

The FBI Psychologist; Doctor Melody Elizabeth Kingston, watched through the window into the playroom as she observed the behaviour of the little girl in the presence of solely the two women. She noticed how much more relaxed she was when it was just the three of them together, although she could tell that the little girl was not fully allowing herself to relax as she still glanced around the room to ensure that she was safe and that no danger had become apparent whilst she had not been looking.

Alessandra was giggling from her position in Maura's lap as they both watched Jane making the doll 'dance' to a random tune that she herself was humming, the little girl seemed highly amused.

She also observed the behaviour of the two women although she did not focus heavily on it, only analysing enough that would explain the little girl's reaction to them. She noticed the protectiveness and loving nature of both of the women not just towards the child but also towards each other.

She noted how Maura was holding the little girl, she was on her knees with the little girl sat in her lap, whilst the Doctor's arms were wrapped securely around the child and her head was resting lightly on the top of Allie's head. She was very securely wrapped within the Doctor's embrace and it was easy to understand how that made her feel safe.

Jane had a huge smile on her face and she was heavily focused on the little girl, ensuring that what she did made the little girl comfortable, and happy. The dark haired woman also seemed rather pleased with herself at each smile or laugh that the little girl gave - it was as if her sole aim in that moment was to create happiness for the child.

The Doctor had already decided that she would give a recommendation later that day for the adoption to be fast tracked as she knew that this couple were perfect adoptive parents for the little one, simply from observing their behaviour with her over the very short period that she had been able to as well as what she knew about them from their work on the case and from the reports from the hospital.

Korsak and Frost both found themselves smiling as they watched their two colleagues interacting with Alessandra Mai, "They are going to make such amazing parents", the older man said with a proud smile.

Frost nodded as they listened to the sound of the little girl's laughter, "I think they already are".

 **A/N: Thank you to all of those who have recently added this story (or me) to their favourites and/or alerts.**

 _ **You have a choice.**_

 _ **In reference to Vince Korsak, what would you like Alessandra to call him? 'Vince', 'Korsak' or something else?**_

 _ **In reference to Barry Frost, what would you like Alessandra to call him? 'Barry', 'Frost' or something else?**_

 **Vbbneighbour - Well it is a very** **good** **thing to be addicted to (well at least in** **my** **opinion ; ) ). Round two of the interviews starts in the next chapter… there may be more interviews than I initially planned because it may be 'too much' otherwise but we shall see…. Thank you again for your review.**

 **Sweetkid45 - I will consider it. Thank you for the review.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for reviewing.**

 **LoveIsles - Thank you so much for leaving a review for this story.**

 **Kshay89 - Thank you for your review.**

' **Guest' - I agree, they do need to but everything is written in the way it is for a reason - I needed them (especially Agent Lopez) to be appalling at their job in order to get the story to where I needed it to be.**

 **Tasheika Conley - Thank you for reviewing again. I do rather like writing about the relationship between Alessandra and her mother however the 'pain' that she felt knowing that she could not protect her children will not be fully revealed until the later. She not only had to watch what happened to three of her children but died attempting to save the fourth.**

 **Linda. S. Allen - Thank you for your review. I do rather like writing the more loving and 'fluff' type scenes with her biological mother. The story was chosen because I know so many in the states that seem to read it to their children or have done in the past and I could not think of a more fitting story for Michelle Harmon to be reading to her children on Christmas Eve. I admittedly had to research the story because I did not know very much about it - I have never had it read to me and I had never actually read the full story either.**

 **JJSwinnlive - Thank you for your comments.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - It may end up as a fifty chapter story if I continue as I have come to realise that the interviews may take a lot longer than I had initially planned, also there are a few things that I do intend to include which may consequently mean a few extra chapters. I admittedly am not looking forward to writing her realisation that her family have been killed as I think it may be one of the most heartbreaking parts of the story to write/read. I was very tempted to as you put it 'take out Agent Dickhead' but I knew that in order for her to do that she would have to take her focus off of Alessandra which I could not imagine happening, even if she were to hand her over to Maura in order to 'take her out'. Agent Kingston may or may not have played a huge part in the lack of Agent Lopez's presence in this current chapter, which I may flashback to next chapter - I'm not sure. Thank you again for your review, I do look forward to them.**

' **Guest' - Thank you for your review. Triplets? I am not sure that that concept will be written into this story. I'm not sure how you count five however as Triplets + Alessandra = Four, unless you are counting Angioletto (The child that Jane lost)? The items from the home will eventually be moved across (or at least a large amount) but that will be later on.**

 **TamTam86 - Thank you for your review. I think it was very important for her to bond with both women and to continue to do so. The removal of them from the room was done for a few reasons; (a) to show the connection between them, (b) for the FBI to realise what we already know, (c ) to show how safe the child feels with them, (d) to show how loving and protective of them, and (e) to show that even if Jane and Maura left the child, that they would return - no matter what anyone said. It was also there to push the story to where I needed it to be so that the interview could begin with Doctor Kingston. That little girl had a problem, she felt unsafe and scared - Maura and Jane fixed it simply by being present. It also highlighted how Allie sees Jane's job as being a 'superhero' rather than a Detective. I find myself needing to put that level of detail into it so that the reader can 'see' what I can 'see' in my head as I write it, the room especially as to understand the child's anxiety in the room - the room needs to be described so that as you mentioned, to be able to be in the room and watch it unfold. It will also help as the interviews progress as for example; the dollhouse will play an extremely important part later on in the story.**


	33. Thursday, January 5th - Part II

Doctor Melody Elizabeth Kingston watched the scene within the child-friendly interview room for a moment longer. She ran her hand roughly through her blonde corkscrew curls, a part of her did not wish to intrude on their moment together but she knew that she had a job to do and that in order to do that, she had to interrupt their time together in the 'playroom'.

The three of them were having a 'tea party' with her doll and the oversized stuffed brown bear that resided in the corner of the room.

"Would you like a cup of tea, Mr Brown Bear?", the little one asked the large animal with a 'posh' voice put on.

"Oh yes, that would be lovely", Jane said, deepening her voice behind her hand as she leaned closer to the bear in order to pretend the bear spoke.

 **Korsak and Frost found themselves laughing at their co-worker's behaviour, it was a side to the woman that they had not previously seen to her in all of the years that they had known her.**

Alessandra burst into giggles before pouring the imaginary tea from the bright yellow plastic teapot into the small blue plastic tea cup whilst holding onto the plastic lid of the teapot so that it did not fall off whilst she was pouring the 'hot' liquid. Maura laughed softly too as she watched her girlfriend's interactions with their foster daughter.

"And what about you, Miss Dolly?", she asked in the same tone that she had used with the big furry creature.

Jane nodded towards Maura, indicating for her to do the voice.

Maura paused ever so slightly for only a moment, she was uncertain but for the little girl, she continued and followed Jane's instructions, "Oh yes please", she said softly, although with a put on posh English accent, "That would be awfully nice of you".

Jane grinned, she was proud of the honey blonde woman and was happy to show it, she leaned over and gently squeezed her hand in encouragement.

The dark haired child giggled again at the different voice that her caregiver had put on for the imaginary tea party that they were having on the floor with two different toys. This time she pulled out a pink plastic cup and she once again pretended to pour the hot beverage into the small plastic container.

Allie looked at Jane next, "Would you like some tea Detective Jane? Just like Mr Brown Bear and Miss Dolly?", the little one asked in her best 'posh waitress' type voice.

"Oh yes please", Jane said enthusiastically before adding rather dramatically, "For I am dying of thirst over here".

Alessandra giggled and shook her head, "No you're not".

"And who says I'm not?", the woman said pretending to be offended, which of course she was not.

The little girl turned to Maura, "You're a Doctor", she said simply, "Do _you_ think she's _dying_ of thirst?". She threw her hands up slightly into the air, rolling her eyes as she did it.

Maura laughed and glanced towards Jane before looking towards Allie again, "I don't think she is", the woman said softly, "But I do know that if she were to go without liquid for too long then it is distinctly possible". She had skirted slightly in order to make both parties happy.

The little one smiled, "See", she said looking at Jane, "You're not dying".

Jane's jaw dropped slightly, "But she said I could if you take too long giving me that _delicious_ tea of yours", she said over dramatising the word 'delicious' by putting her hands over her heart.

Alessandra Mai Harmon rolled her eyes making Jane gasp slightly, before she picked up a red coloured plastic cup which had a small handle on the side and pretended to pour some more tea into the small teacup.

"Thank you, oh so much", Jane said with a huge grin before starting to 'drink' the make believe drink of tea that the little girl had made for her.

Then the little girl turned to Maura, "Doctor Maura?", Allie said softly, "Would you like a cup of tea?".

Her question was met with a smile from the Medical Examiner, "That would be lovely", she said politely, "Thank you Allie".

Allie carefully poured the invisible tea from the yellow and red teapot into a green plastic teacup before cautiously handing it over to the woman, as if it were going to spill and the hot liquid that she imagined was there would somehow burn the woman's lap.

Maura pretended to take a sip, "Oh, I do believe that this may be the best cup of tea that I have ever had at any tea party", she said with a smile, truth be told, it was her first tea party.

The sound of the door opening, had the little girl spin around to face the entrance very quickly and she was faced with the image of the FBI psychologist standing in the doorway.

Doctor Kingston had a smile on her face, "Hello Alessandra", she said softly, "Are you enjoying your tea party?".

Her question was met with silence but the little girl did respond physically by nodding in confirmation.

Maura leaned over towards Alessandra and whispered something in her ear.

Alessandra bit her lip slightly and looked over at Melody before back towards Maura.

Doctor Isles nodded with a reassuring smile, "It's okay", she said gently.

After a moment, the little girl turned back towards the door where Melody Kingston was standing, "Would…", she paused for a moment, gathering her courage, "Would you like to join us for a cup of tea?".

"Oh I would love to Alessandra", the curly haired blonde woman said with a bright smile, "That is very nice of you to offer". Melody walked further into the room, carefully closing the door behind her before she moved over to their make-shift tea party and sitting down on the floor.

Alessandra was silent for a moment, clearly thinking things through before speaking, her voice was quiet but polite as she spoke, "Doctor Melody", she said softly, "Would you like a cup of tea?". She glanced around, "Mr Brown Bear had some, so did Miss Dolly, and then Detective Jane did too, and Doctor Maura", she said before smiling, "Maura said it was the best she ever had", she forgot to mentioned the 'at a tea party' part.

Doctor Melody Elizabeth Kingston smiled happily towards the little girl, "That would be very kind of you, thank you Alessandra", her English accent was very pronounced as she emphasised it during the 'tea party'.

The little girl, once again picked up the plastic yellow teapot and picked out an orange plastic cup for the woman before pouring out the tea. Carefully she handed the cup over to the woman with a smile.

"Thank you very much", she said softly before taking a sip.

Allie then poured another, this time it was for herself. She picked up her red cup and took a 'sip' of it, "Delicious!", she declared happily, pressed up against Maura's side.

After they had drunk their tea, Melody smiled at Alessandra, "You know yesterday where I asked you some questions?", she asked softly.

Alessandra nodded but failed to verbally respond to the question that the psychologist had posed.

"Well, I'm going to need to ask you some more", she said softly, "Do you think that that will be okay?".

The little girl looked up at each of her foster mothers in turn who both smiled reassuringly before Allie nodded at the woman but did not speak. It was clear that it was the feeling of being 'unsure' of something that made her go silent.

"That's good", Melody said softly, keeping at a 'safe distance' from the little one so that she would not be perceived as a threat to her - by the little girl or her rather protective foster parents. "Would you like to come over to the table where you did that lovely drawing yesterday?", the English woman asked kindly.

Alessandra did not move until both Jane and Maura both stood up, then she herself stood too. Jane put her hand out to the little one, "Come on then my little Tesero Turtle", she said with enthusiasm.

"I'm not a turtle", the little girl protested.

"Yes you are", Jane said with a grin, "And you're _my_ turtle". She scooped the child up in her arms and spun her around briefly making her giggle before placing her on her hip.

They walked over to the table, the three women kneeled down around it and the little one instantly climbed into Jane's lap, completely ignoring the presence of the chair.

"Would you like to sit on the chair today, Allie?", Melody asked softly.

Allie shook her head, "Not really", she said simply.

Melody nodded, "That is perfectly fine but it is there if you would like to sit on it".

The little one nodded, making her curls bounce a little, "Okay".

"Today, I'm going to show you some photos and I'm going to ask you some questions about them", the woman said softly, "Is that okay?", she wanted to make sure that the child was as comfortable as possible and understood what was going on as much as possible too.

Doctor Melody Elizabeth Kingston placed a light brown folder on the table before opening it out on the table in front of her.

First was a picture of the truck, "Allie, do you remember this truck?", Melody asked softly.

Alessandra nodded.

 _He placed her in the front seat of his truck and moved to get into his side of the car, it was still dark outside and she hadn't seen him properly. Her innocence allowed her to think that it was Santa despite the differences in the typical appearance of Santa that was depicted within the majority of Christmas imagery._

 _The little girl curled up in the seat of the truck, the innocent child didn't realise the danger that she was in and instead she saw it simply as a trip with Santa or a dream. The little girl was completely unaware that her parents and siblings were deceased at home. A home that she might never see again._

"Where do you remember it from?", Melody asked, gently prodding her for more information.

"From when Santa took me away", she said quietly, "That's what he had instead of a sleigh".

Melody nodded, "Do you remember what happened when you got into the truck?".

"Santa put me into the truck, he put me in the driver's side and told me to crawl over", she revealed, "So I did". "When I put my belt on, he gave me a bottle of water and then he started driving", the little girl said as she looked at the picture.

"Do you remember anything else from the truck?", Doctor Kingston asked cautiously.

Allie bit her lip for a moment, trying to remember, "He took a photo of us together with a magical camera", she said with slight amazement in her voice at that.

 _Hoyt parked up in a layby and then pulled out a polaroid camera from the glovebox and gave a rather creepy grin in the direction of the child, "I think it's time that I take your photo", he said in a menacing manner, "Will you be a good girl and take a photo with Santa?"._

 _The little girl nodded and yawned slightly sleepily, she was dozing in and out of sleep._

"What made it magical Alessandra?", the patient woman asked as she watched the child's facial expressions closely.

"It printed the photo", the little girl said, "It clicked and then it made a strange noise and it came out of the bottom, like magic".

Melody smiled, "That does sound pretty amazing doesn't it?".

 _Once the two women had searched the interior of the car, they both moved around to the back of the truck which had a large trunk but the blacked out windows of the trunk and the back seats made it difficult to see. Maura looked over at Jane and both took deep breaths before Jane opened up the trunk to find there was nothing there but a photo of Alessandra and Hoyt together, at the bottom of the polaroid were the words She's mine now._

"That is really good Alessandra", Melody said encouragingly, "That is really helpful". It was however mostly information that they already knew but in order to get the information that they did not have, then they needed her to give the pieces that they did otherwise it would confuse the little one far too much if they were to jump around and pick what they wanted.

The little one smiled, seemingly proud with what she had done although she did not fully comprehend as to why but knew that it was important.

Melody turned the photo over so that it was facing down on the table beside her, she then extracted a second photo from her file, "What about this one?", the woman said softly, "Do you recognise this place?".

The little girl looked at the photo carefully. It was a photo of a parking lot, it had a huge billboard at the side and multiple stores in the background. There was a large 'Walgreens' with its recognisable red and white signage which was beside a smaller store that she could not make out, then there was a rather large 'Staples' store and a liquor store beside that. The parking spaces were marked with multiple yellow lines that had been painted on the tarmac of the parking lot and there were a few cars scattered around including the truck that Hoyt had taken her in. Gradually the little one shook her head.

Melody nodded, "It's okay if you don't remember", the woman said calmly, "You said that the water made you sleep, did it make you do that a lot?".

Alessandra nodded, "A lot of the time if he gave me water it would be to make me sleep but sometimes he would give me juice or milk but they didn't make me sleep".

" **That explains why she took the juice so easily if the juice was never drugged", Frost stated with a sigh, "But why would you** _ **drug**_ **a child? I mean what could she possibly do?".**

" **Fight back and make it difficult for him? Run away?", Korsak offered as he watched the little one through the one-way mirror.**

 **Frost ran his hand over his head, "That kid is tiny, how much trouble could she possibly cause him?".**

" **All we can do is help her through this and make sure that she knows that she is safe now and nothing like that will ever happen again", Vince said with conviction.**

 **Jane's partner nodded, "Agreed".**

Doctor Kingston nodded, her line of work was not exactly easy, to listen to what the children had been through was rather hard on her and in order to counteract the risk of vicarious trauma, she often took breaks and went on vacations in between cases to her small holiday home in Vermont.

The second photo was placed on top of the first, again it was placed upside down on the table with the image facing down so that only the white backing could be seen.

The third photo that was pulled out of the folder that had been stamped as 'confidential' was a photo of Jane's front step, the apartment that Jane had not lived in since moving in with Maura and the apartment that they themselves had not taken the little girl to.

 _He was taunting the Detective and they all knew it._

"Do you recognise this place?", Melody Kingston asked carefully.

Alessandra nodded, "It's Jane's apartment", she said softly, pointing to it in the photo.

Melody nodded, "That's right Alessandra", she said calmly, "Do you remember what you were doing there?".

The little one nodded, "Santa wanted to take me to visit Jane", she explained gradually, "He.. wanted to take a photo that would be just for her". "He said it would be a special present and that she would really really like it", the little girl said as she tried to remember as much as she could.

" _Get in the truck!", Hoyt demanded as he pushed her roughly towards it._

 _She clambered into the car and began to buckle up her seat belt after closing her own door with a struggle, "Where are we going?", the little one asked quietly and rather nervously. It was rather dark outside and it made it seem much scarier to the little girl._

 _The door slammed loudly on the driver's side of the vehicle, "We are going to see Janie", the man said in a rather menacing manner._

" _We are?", the little one said with slight excitement as she had been told so much about the woman who would come and get her._

 _Charles nodded, knowing that the woman would not be there as an informant had already told him that the woman was still at the precinct, "We are going to visit her and take a very special photo just for her", he said as he drove along the highway, "You'd like that wouldn't you? A nice… present for the lovely_ _Detective_ ".

 _Alessandra nodded, unaware of the fact that she was being used to taunt the woman and that the 'gift' was simply a method of torturing the dedicated Detective._

"And what happened when you got to Detec….Jane's apartment?", the psychologist carefully prodded.

Jane sat biting her lip, trying not to cry.

Maura discreetly ran her hand up and down the woman's back to calm her and comfort her in a way that the child would be unlikely to notice.

"When we got there, he parked the car and we went up to the steps", she said softly, "He told me that I had to sit on the steps so that he could take the photo".

 _The man climbed out of the driver's seat and walked around to the passenger's side before yanking the door open harshly. "Get out", Charles Hoyt demanded._

 _As quickly as she possibly could she undid her seatbelt and climbed out of the car in order to stand beside him, she did not try to run or scream but instead remained silent._

 _Her upper arm was grabbed by the silver haired man holding her captive and he dragged her over to the concrete steps outside of the apartment building, "Sit", he ordered again, never using any form of manners at all._

 _The little girl sat on the step carefully and quietly, glancing around at her surroundings._

" _Move up further", Hoyt said, throwing his arm up in that general direction, "You want Janie to_ _like_ _the photo, don't you?"._

 _Alessandra nodded, wanting to please the woman so that she would come quicker._

" _That's it", he said in a creepy tone of voice as he snapped the photo._

 _A man walked by with his dog but was too busy fiddling with his phone to notice the missing child sat on the stairs despite the amount of posters and media coverage that the case had._

"Jane", Doctor Kingston said softly, "Would you mind getting Alessandra a drink and a snack from the vending machine outside? I think she deserves a little treat as she is doing so well with my questions". Her proposal came because she could see that the woman was visibly struggling with the current topic, "Agent Jackson will give you the money for it", she said discreetly instructing the agent to provide it.

Jane nodded, grateful for the break, "Hey Allie, will you go to Maura for a moment?", she asked with a smile, "I'll be right back, I promise you".

She hesitated for a moment but reluctantly nodded and transferred herself into Maura's lap, snuggling into her as Jane got up and exited the room.

"Now, could you tell me what happened after he took your photo?", Doctor Kingston asked softly.

 **Frost put his hand reassuringly on his partner's shoulder, "Hey", he said softly, "You couldn't have known he would take her there".**

" **Yeah Janie", Korsak agreed, "Nobody saw that one coming".**

 **Jane sighed, "I know but that doesn't stop me feeling like I** **should** **have known, ya know?".**

The little girl was thinking back to that night, "After he took my photo, we went inside and he told me I could knock on the door, I was so excited because I was going to meet the superhero".

" _Alessandra", he said, dragging out her name slightly in a rather weird manner, "Would you like to meet Janie?"._

 _The little one went wide eyed and she nodded with excitement, "Yes please", she said softly._

" _Well then", the man said with an evil grin, knowing that it was empty, "We'll go inside and you can knock on her door"._

 _Alessandra got up from her seat and made her way up the remainder of the stairs, rather eager to meet the woman that she had heard so much about and had only read about in newspaper clippings that Hoyt had._

" **Superhero", Jane mumbled, "Some fucking superhero I was". She threw her hands up in the air with tears in her eyes, "I wasn't even there when she needed me".**

" **Jane, you couldn't have known", Vince repeated.**

" **She knocked for me Vince", she said with a hint of heartbreak in her voice. "That little girl", she said pointing to the glass, "Knocked on my door, thinking that I would answer".**

" **You were at the precinct Jane, working your ass off to get that little girl home", Korsak said firmly, "You were doing everything that you possibly could** _ **and**_ **more".**

" **But she was excited Vince… to see** _ **me**_ … **a woman she hadn't even** _ **met**_ " **, the Detective said with a heavy sigh, "She wanted me to save her and all it would have taken was for me to be home on time…".**

" **He never would have taken her to your apartment if he thought you were there Janie", Korsak reminded her, "And you know it".**

 **Jane Rizzoli nodded with tear filled eyes and brushed at her cheeks when a stray, salty drop slid from her left eyelid.**

The little girl was silent again.

"What happened when you knocked on the door, Alessandra?", Melody inquired in a calm tone of voice.

Alessandra looked down at the printed colour A4 photo of the apartment, "Santa told me which door was the right door", she began, "Then he let me knock but there was no answer". "I could hear barking though and when I knocked, the dog would bark louder", Allie revealed. "I leaned down so that I could talk to the doggy", she said with a smile, "When I spoke, it barked back at me", she giggled at the memory of the barking animal.

" **Jo knew", Jane said simply.**

" _Get down Jo", Jane said with annoyance as the dog sniffed Alessandra's doll, "That doll isn't yours"._

 _The dog tilted her head, looking at her but instead of moving, she simply curled around the child's toy._

" _No", she said simply before moving the doll but it was not the first time that the dog opted to curl around the doll or sniff at it but she never did harm it or even attempt to move it._

" **She had a fascination with Allie's doll", Jane revealed, "She kept sniffing at it and curling up around it but she never harmed it".**

" **She learnt Allie's scent", Korsak confirmed.**

 **Jane smiled sadly at the thought,** _ **my dog knew… and I didn't,**_ " **It would have been really handy if I'd managed to teach her how to talk, maybe she could have told me?".**

 **Frost laughed, "Yeah but you wouldn't have any secrets left either", he joked trying to lighten the mood a little for his partner's sake.**

"Do you remember what happened after that?", Melody Kingston prodded lightly, "After you knocked and after you spoke with the dog?".

Alessandra Mai Harmon sat for a moment in silence before speaking again, "We went outside and went back to the car but then he didn't drive like I thought he would".

 _Hoyt grabbed her arm once more and pulled her from the apartment, "But Jane", she tried, "She'll be back soon then I can stay here with her"._

 _The man ignored her pleas and dragged her to the car, she did not utter another word as the door was opened to the car and she was almost thrown in before the door was shut behind her._

 _Two drunken women stumbled down the street on the other side of the road, oblivious to what was going on less than a few meters from them._

 _Hoyt climbed in the car and simply sat there despite the fact that the little one had her belt on already._

"Alessandra?", Melody prompted when the little girl again seemed to lose her voice, "Why didn't he drive?".

"He was waiting", the little girl said simply as she looked at the photo and ran her finger over the image.

"Waiting for what?", the blonde psychologist asked with her head tilted in curiosity.

Alessandra looked up at her, "He was waiting for Jane".

 **Jane felt like her throat was being squeezed, her airways felt like they were closing, she swallowed trying to normalise her breathing but it physically hurt to know that the little girl she had searched for had been waiting… for** _ **her.**_

"Alessandra?", Doctor Kingston said softly, "Did she come?".

The little one nodded, "She came but Santa said that I had to stay quiet because Jane was too busy to take me", she said softly, "He said it wasn't the right moment and that we had to wait for the right time because she had company".

"Do you know who was there with her?", Melody asked gently.

The little girl nodded, her bright blue eyes looking back at the paper, "Maura".

Maura had to force herself to put up a shield to prevent herself from crying, she too had had a chance to take the child in that moment and then the moment was gone… just like the little girl on that night.

 _They waited in the darkness of the night with only a few street lights lighting up the street, they were out of the way enough that they could see the building but the streetlights would not shine into the vehicle too much._

 _A car drove past the one that they were sat in and then it parked up not far from them. Out of the car stepped Jane and Maura, together._

" _Can I get out now Santa?", the little girl asked softly._

" _Shh", Hoyt said grabbing her, "It isn't the right time, we have to wait until she's alone, she's too busy for you right now"._

 _Alessandra nodded, heartbroken, she looked out of the window and touched the glass, wishing she could get out and run to them. She did contemplate it but she did not want to make Santa mad again. He was scary when he was mad._

 _The two women made their way up the concrete steps that the little girl had just been photographed on and once inside, Hoyt drove away._

 _Jane unlocked her front door, "Calm down Jo", she shouted with frustration, "Jeez what is wrong with you tonight". The dog was barking like crazy and almost ran outside but Jane quickly scooped her up into her arms and stepped inside before throwing her keys onto the table._

" _Jane…", Maura said from behind her as she knelt down in the doorway._

" _What Maur'?", she asked as she turned around._

" _She was here", the honey blonde said in shock as she carefully picked up the polaroid photo from the floor._

 _Jane did not even waste time putting the still squirming and yapping dog down but instead dashed back outside to look, glancing around she saw nothing._

 _Jo Friday had since stopped barking. Jane at the time had assumed that it was because she had picked her up, she knew now that it was not the case._

 _When Jane got back in, Maura was on the phone to Korsak, "No.. no I don't think there would be any point to get CSU out here.. All it will prove is that she was here and we already know that"._

 _Jane shut the door carefully then put Jo on the floor to run around, the dog went straight to the bedroom where the woman had left the doll that day. It was one of the rare days that the doll did not go to work with her._

" _Goodnight Detective Korsak", she eventually said before placing her cell phone back into her bag._

 _Taking the photo, Jane looked down at it and sighed heavily._

" **Damnit!", Jane said in frustration, putting both of her hands up into her hair and gripping it before growling with anger.**

 **Korsak and Frost knew that there was not much that they could say without risking their heads being torn from their bodies by the ferocious woman.**

" **I just missed her… if I had just…", she began to reel of what she could have done differently that night**

"Do you remember where you went when you left Jane's?", the woman asked gently.

Allie bit her lip, "He made me drink some water to make me fall asleep and when I woke up there was someone in the back seat but I wasn't allowed to look at her".

"Do you know who that woman was?", she inquired.

Alessandra shook her head, "No".

"Do you remember anything about her?", Melody asked.

"She had red hair, green eyes and she was wearing a black dress", she said softly, "I remember because it was really glittery and she reminded me of Princess Ariel".

Melody nodded, she did not write these things down because it was all being recorded by audio and video so that she could go over the footage later and make recordings from them then. "How long did she stay with you?", the English psychologist asked gently.

"Not very long", the little one said simply, "She had to be dropped off at her daddy's house so Santa took her there".

 _The woman had red painted on her thighs, the little girl had slept through the kidnapping and the attack. Hoyt drove her to a house in the suburbs, the little girl began to wake as they got close to the house, the woman was sniffling and crying._

"She was crying because she wanted her daddy", the little girl said innocently.

 _Hoyt pulled up and got out. "What's your name?", the little one asked with a smile without looking back._

" _Georgia", she said softly, "Georgia Daniels, and you?"._

" _Alessandra Mai Harmon", the little one said._

 _Georgia did not have time to reply as she was pulled out of the car and dragged towards the house. She looked back at the car with the missing child sat in the front, 'she's alive', she thought as she watched the little one wave at her. She waved back with a false smile, not wanting to anger the man who had the little girl in his 'custody' in case he turned his anger to the little one._

 _The last Allie saw of her, she was being pushed into the house._

"I remembered", the little girl announced.

"What did you remember?", Melody asked softly as she watched Alessandra closely.

Alessandra smiled, "Her name", she said simply, "The woman who looked like Ariel".

"What was it Alessandra?", Melody asked softly, "Whatever you can tell us is really important because then we can go and find her, then maybe we can ask her some questions too".

The little girl nodded, "Her name… her name was Georgia.. Georgie Daniels", she said with a small smile, proud that she remembered, "I thought it was kind of funny that she was named after a state".

Melody smiled, "That is kind of funny, isn't it?", she said softly. ' _Children's minds work in such strange ways'_ , she thought to herself.

 **Jane looked confused, "That's not a name that we have in the case file", she said as she looked at the agents.**

 **Agent Jackson stepped forward, "Georgie Daniels was 21 went she went missing, she went outside into the alleyway to smoke a cigarette whilst her friends were inside but when they came out she was gone. She wasn't reported missing until the later that morning". "Her body hasn't been found, she went missing on the night that the photo arrived at your apartment but there was no evidence that linked her to Hoyt", he stated, "There was no CCTV in the area and it was far enough away from your apartment that it written off as unrelated".**

" **How many more women are we going to find because you deemed them, 'unrelated'?", Jane questioned.**

 **The man looked down and sighed heavily, "I don't know and that is why the information that she has is so important".**

 **Jane sighed, "I'm going to the vending machine to get the drink and snack for Allie", she stated.**

 **Agent Jackson handed her the cash for it straight away, he turned to Agent Moore, "I need you to go over the Daniels case file, check it with the details we have from each of the Hoyt murders and check it with any known associates", he said professionally, "I need to know the link and I want to know where this girl is, let's hope she's still alive".**

When the door opened and revealed Jane standing there, the little girl's face lit up with pure excitement as she jumped up and ran straight into her arms, launching herself at her, "You were gone for so long", she said clinging to the woman who had knelt down to catch her.

Jane nodded, holding the treats in her hands as she held the girl close, "I know, I'm sorry, I had a problem with the vending machine".

"It's okay", the little girl said with a smile as the woman lifted her up into the safety of her arms.

The Detective carried the child back over to sit down once again beside Maura, "I got you an orange juice", she said with a smile, putting the bottle of juice on the table, "And… a chocolate bar but shhh… don't tell Maura".

The little one giggled, "I think she heard you".

Maura smirked and raised her eyebrow at Jane but shook her head, "I think it will be okay as a treat".

Alessandra grinned happily as she snuggled back into Jane.

"I think that's it for today", Melody said with a smile, putting the photos into the file despite it not being the only ones in there as there was a couple more, "What do you think Alessandra? Would you like to go now?".

She was sipping at her orange juice when she nodded but did not speak as she was too busy drinking the orange liquid.

"In that case, I will see you tomorrow", the woman said with a smile as she stood up from the floor.

Jane and Maura stood up too although Jane had Alessandra in her arms, "How about tonight, we have a movie night and order pizza?".

Alessandra nodded with a smile.

Maura usually protested against junk food but she understood that both Jane and Allie needed comfort food and truth be told, so did she.

"You can even pick the movie", the Italian woman said softly to the child before pressing a kiss to the top of her head, despite knowing that it would mean that she would most likely end up watching some sort of animated cartoon movie.

"Do you have Finding Dory?", the little one asked.

"You know about Finding Dory?", Jane asked softly, surprised as the little girl had been in captivity when it was released.

The blue eyed child nodded, "I saw a huge poster when Santa was driving on the highway", she never stated when that was exactly and nobody asked because dates were not something she would be likely to remember.

"Then we will look for it as soon as we get home", Maura said with a bright smile before kissing the little one's cheek.

Later that day, Alessandra was sat on the sofa in her pyjamas - they were white with silver tiaras printed all over them and then a picture of a princess on the front. The long sleeved pyjamas with long trousers were covered partially in the soft blanket that had been purchased for her and taken to the hospital.

Maura was in the kitchen, organising some drinks to go with their pizzas which were sat in their boxes on the coffee table.

All of a sudden, a yapping sound came from the front door, the little one went wide eyed.

"Calm down Jo!", Jane insisted, struggling to carry the tortoise into the house with her mother's help.

Her demand went unnoticed and the small dog ran into the living room at full speed making a lot of noise.

By the time that Jane tried to stop the noisy creature, Alessandra was already on the floor, making a fuss of the little one. Jane paused in the doorway with her mother behind her, both watching the little one giggle whilst Jo presented her stomach for attention. Maura stood in the kitchen, the carton of milk still raised in her hand as she watched.

She did not notice the tortoise that had made its escape into the guest room.

Later that evening, Jane was sat on the sofa with Alessandra curled up tightly in her lap and Maura beside her. They were all covered by a blanket and beneath the blanket, Jo Friday was curled up in the little girl's lap, she did not seem to care that she was hidden beneath the material.

The empty pizza boxes were in front of them, Jane's beer was half full whilst Maura's glass of wine was almost empty and Alessandra's cup of milk was completely drained.

"I think we should get you to bed Allie, before you fall asleep", Jane said softly.

Maura looked confused, "Jane", she said quietly, "She's been asleep for a while now".

"Are you telling me that we just watched the whole of the movie 'Brave' but we didn't have to because she was asleep?", Jane asked in a hushed voice, she had known that the little girl was awake at the start but tired.

"Well no because she was awake for part of it", Maura said biting her lip.

Jane raised an eyebrow, "How much of it did she even see?".

The honey blonde Medical Examiner bit her lip once more, "She fell asleep at around fifteen minutes into the movie".

"Maur'", Jane said in slight frustration, "Why didn't you say something?".

"I…", Maura paused, "I was rather enjoying the movie and I didn't want this moment to end", she was referring to being curled on the sofa with her little family.

Jane smiled and tugged her closer, kissing her softly, "I love you Maur'", she said lovingly, "And honestly… I don't really mind about the movie".

"You don't?", she asked hesitantly.

The dark haired Detective shook her head, "How can I not love spending time with you, Allie and my crazy fluffball who seems to be under this blanket still?".

Maura grinned before leaning up to kiss Jane again, "I love you too Jane".

 **A/N: Thank you to all of those who have added this to their favourites/alerts recently.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review and for your input on the names. 'Frosty' makes me think of 'Frosty the Snowman' - I will consider your ideas.**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for reviewing. I agree, it could go on for much longer and when I reviewed my story plan yesterday, it stretched to SIXTY chapters… oh boy this has a life of its own!**

 **LaurenKnight13 - Thank you for taking the time to review and to give your input on the names. I'm not sure on the name 'Vinny' but the link to Frozen for Frost is brilliant. I agree, it will be very good for her to have familial support in place for her to recover from her ordeal.**


	34. Friday, January 6th - Part I

**A/N: This is OFFICIALLY the LONGEST chapter of the story so far… actually it is the LONGEST chapter that I believe I have ever written in a fanfiction story! Thank you to all those who have added this to their favourites, their alerts, reviewed or are simply reading/'lurking'. You are all amazing and I am grateful for each and every one of you - I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it.**

It was past midnight when the two women finally climbed into their bed with their foster daughter in the middle of them, curled up like a ball. Maura leaned over and cupped Jane's cheek, "It wasn't your fault, you know that right?", she said softly in a loving tone of voice.

Jane sighed heavily, "I know", she said softly, already knowing that Maura was referring to what the little one had revealed the previous day.

"We couldn't have known that he was going to take her there", the Doctor said gently.

The dark haired woman bit her lip as a salty tear drop slipped down her cheek, "I know… it's just… I feel so guilty… I feel like… like I failed her… you know?".

Maura nodded as she carefully brushed away the liquid from the other woman's cheek, "I know Jane… because… because I feel the same way", she admitted gradually, "You wasn't the only one there that night, I was there too".

Detective Rizzoli reached her hand up, mimicking the way that Maura was cupping her cheek, "It wasn't your fault either Maur', you know… Korsak reminded me earlier when I was in the observation room that… if we _had_ been there then Hoyt wouldn't have taken Allie there", she said as she spoke to her girlfriend in the darkness of their shared bedroom.

Doctor Isles nodded, "I know", she said calmly, "He took her there because he knew you weren't there".

"She was there though Maur', knocking on my apartment door", Jane said in a soft voice as they continued to speak in a way that would avoid awakening the child, "She knocked on that door thinking that I was there and that I would open it up".

Jane struggled not to cry but it failed as more tears spilled over the edges of her eyelids, "Watching from that observation room, I could see her face as she spoke and… there was a flash of excitement in her eyes when she said that she wanted to meet 'the superhero', but then it vanished as soon as she said that I didn't answer", the little girl of course had no idea how much of an effect that her words would have on the woman who she thought of as a 'superhero'.

Maura's cheeks were not dry either as she listened to what her girlfriend was saying, this time she did not interrupt as she listened, she knew that the woman needed to say it.

"She hadn't even met me and yet...she already thought I was a superhero", she said in a hushed voice laced with amazement, "She's wrong though… I'm not a superhero… I'm not even a hero". She sniffled and reached up to brush her tears away from her cheeks.

"Jane", Maura said with as much firmness as she possibly could whilst trying to stay quiet, "Now, you listen to me okay?".

The Italian Detective nodded to confirm that she was indeed listening.

"You see that little girl lying between us?", Maura asked.

Jane nodded again.

"Look at her Jane", she requested patiently.

Detective Rizzoli looked down at the sleeping child and she could not help but smile at the sight.

Maura found herself watching Jane's reaction for a moment before continuing, "Now look at how she's lying, do you see that she's curled up against you and listening to your heartbeat", she said calmly.

Once again, Jane Rizzoli nodded.

"What does that tell you?", her girlfriend asked with a patient tone of voice.

Jane bit her lip and nodded, still watching the little girl who was not only curled up to her whilst listening to her heart beat but also clutching at the material of her shirt.

Alessandra looked so peaceful in her sleep, it was if she was just an ordinary child curled with her mother.

"That she… she feels safe?", Jane said in a questioning manner as partially she doubted her translation of the child's behaviour.

"Exactly", Maura replied, aiming to alleviate at least some of the feelings of guilt that her lover was having, "Now, think back to that first day. Think back to when we found her in that storage room".

 _The room had once been a small supply closet but had not been used in quite a while, the shelves were now empty apart from a couple of empty plastic baskets._

 _On the floor, in the corner of the dark room was a little girl who was curled up and coughing. She curled up even tighter as the light suddenly burst into the room. She was shaking with fear and cold as she watched the tall, dark haired woman in the doorway._

 _"Maur', she's….", Jane Clementine Rizzoli was stunned and she paused, "She's here...she's alive"._

Doctor Isles squeezed Jane's hand in a reassuring manner before continuing, "What happened when you went into that supply closet?", she asked despite knowing the answer, "What did you do first?".

"I knelt down and spoke to her", Jane said recollecting what she did that day, "I introduced us both so that she would know who we were and… hopefully then she wouldn't see us as a threat".

 _Jane knelt down on the floor, bringing herself down to the shaking child's height, "Hey", she said softly, "My name is Detective Jane Rizzoli and this is Doctor Maura Isles"._

 _The little one did not move a single inch as the Italian woman edged closer to her, speaking softly and reassuringly._

"Do you remember what you did after that?", the honey blonde woman asked carefully.

Jane ran her finger over the little girl's soft cheek, a feather light touch, "I pulled her into my lap and wrapped my arms around her".

Maura nodded, "Why?", she asked simply.

"I wanted to make her feel safe", Jane replied, "I wanted to protect her".

 _Whilst the Doctor remained outside of the small closet room, Detective Rizzoli moved beside the little one, "It's going to be okay Allie", she said quietly as she wrapped her arms around her and gently tugged the girl into her lap._

Again, Maura nodded at Jane's reply, "What do superheroes do in the movies Jane?", she asked with a tilted head.

In a mumble, Jane replied, "Protect and save people".

"Exactly", Doctor Isles agreed before continuing, "That is exactly what you did for her Jane… you protected her and you saved her… if I remember rightly, you also saved me that day".

"I'm not a superhero", the dark haired woman mumbled.

"Jane?", Maura said softly, still being patient with her girlfriend, "What did Allie do when you hugged her? Was she scared of you? Did she run?".

Jane shook her head, "She… she hugged me back", she remembered with a faint smile at the memory.

 _Alessandra Mai Harmon only hesitated momentarily before she embraced the woman, although both Jane and Maura noticed instantly that the little girl only used one arm._

 _Jane remained seated on the hard floor, cradling the young girl to her chest with tear filled eyes. She was so relieved to have found the little girl alive and to be able to hold her in her arms overwhelmed her._

"And why do you think she did that?", Maura asked as she reached up to cup the woman's cheek again, "Why do you think she chose to hug you back rather than run away or scream?".

"She felt... safe", Jane replied gradually.

"Just like she does now", Maura stated simply, "Now do you remember what she did when Detective Frost came into the room?".

 _"Jane!", Frost called out as he entered the room, "They found the cabin but there was no sign of the….", he stopped speaking as he stood there looking at the sight that met him in the closet. He could not believe his eyes when he saw Jane leaning against the wall with the missing child in her arms, "...child", he finished his sentence._

"She clung to me", Jane answered quietly, "She was trying to hide". She smiled softly, "She seemed to be trying to wriggle beneath my jacket to get into it with me", she remembered.

 _Alessandra was attempting to hide against Jane, she had buried her face into the woman's curls and she was attempting to hide inside the Detective's jacket._

Maura nodded, "Why do you think she did that Jane?".

"She… felt safe", she repeated again.

The Chief Medical Examiner nodded, "Exactly, now do you remember how you reacted?", she asked as she ran her fingers over the soft skin of her girlfriend's cheek.

"I tried to shield her, I turned slightly to…", Jane paused, "...to protect her".

Maura nodded again, "You wanted to protect her and make her feel safe…", she reiterated, "...even if it was just Frost".

 _Jane moved in a protective motion to hold the little one closer and shield her slightly to make her feel safer and to counteract the sudden noise._

"Then what about after we got her into the hospital room?", Maura asked softly, "That first nurse? Mary I believe her name was… do you remember what Allie's response to _her_ was?"

"She tried to hide against me again, she was shaking so much", she said quietly as she lay in the bed.

"She didn't do that with you did she?", Maura asked, knowing the answer, "She didn't hide from you or shake when you held her, did she?".

Jane shook her head, "No", she replied simply in a whisper.

"Do you recall what you did?", Maura enquired, running her hand downwards to grab hold of her girlfriend's hand again.

Jane looked down at the little one again, "I… I wouldn't let the nurse near her", she admitted in a hushed tone.

 _"Can I see your arm?", she questioned as she moved even closer, signalling to the arm that the child was cradling._

 _"Stop", Jane said quickly, putting her hand up to stop the nurse advancing._

"Do you remember why?", the hazel eyed woman asked as she watched her girlfriend carefully.

The Detective bit her lip, "I just… I just wanted to protect her".

"You wanted to protect her, even from those who were just there to help", Maura reminded her gently.

Jane said nothing as she brushed a stray curl from Alessandra's cheek and pressed a loving kiss to the little girl's forehead.

"What was it you said superheroes did again?", Maura asked with a smile.

An almost silent chuckle hit the air as Jane shook her head, "Protect".

Maura grinned, "Exactly", she said as if she had proven her point already.

She shook her head, "I'm still not a superhero Maur', I'm just… me and… I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't protect people".

"You went above and beyond for that little girl", Maura reminded her firmly, "You did more than your job Jane". "The FBI could have arrested you for the amount of times that you interfered with their investigation and went off on your own to try and solve the case", she said, refreshing the woman's memory, "Cavanaugh called you into his office multiple times during the year that Allie was missing".

"370 days", Jane corrected without fully thinking, "We found her on day 371".

Maura smiled, "See", she said softly, "You even cared enough to count the days… you turned your apartment into a… mission base and spent your earned vacation days working on the case".

Jane smiled softly but said nothing in response, her girlfriend was right in what she said.

"Now, do you remember who it was that she first spoke to?", Maura asked, hoping to nudge her memory of how the little one reacted to her from the beginning.

"Me", she replied simply, "Her first word was 'Doctor', I thought she was just saying that she would let them help her but she wasn't… she was saying that she only wanted _you_ to help her. So if I am a superhero then that makes you one too".

Maura smiled softly, shaking her head lightly, "I was so scared when I realised I would have to be the one that treated her… I was worried that I would do something wrong and hurt her somehow".

 _Detective Rizzoli held the little girl close, "Allie", she said softly, "The nurse is here to make you feel better, okay?". Jane ran her finger down the little girl's cheek, as bright blue eyes looked up into hers, "She needs to check you over and make sure that your arm is okay", she said with a small reassuring smile, "So will you let the nurses and doctors help you now?"._

 _Allie looked at her with fear in her eyes but she was silent._

 _"Will you let them help you?", Jane asked softly as she kept eye contact with the young girl._

 _"Doctor", she whispered very quietly._

 _Jane nodded, "That's right", she said softly, "We need to let them check out your arm and make sure that you're okay"._

 _Alessandra shook her head as she repeated the same whisper but this time she put her hand out to Maura._

 _Maura bit her lip, "I…", she was about to say that she was not that kind of doctor but instead she gulped slightly before changing the course of her sentence, "Okay Allie, I'll check you over instead, would you like that?"._

"But you didn't hurt her", Jane said simply with a smile, "I was so proud of you, you were so amazing with her and she trusted you so much". "It made me feel better too", Jane admitted, "The idea of the nurses treated her made me… nervous… even though I know it shouldn't have done".

 _Detective Rizzoli smiled, seeming quite happy at her girlfriend's proposal._

 _The little girl seemed much more willing to cooperate with that idea and it was shown even more when she instantly presented her arm as it had been what the nurse had requested._

 _As Maura performed her medical duties, Jane noticed a slight shake in her lover's hands as she pulled on the medical gloves, and she reached out to touch her hand, momentarily taking the hand from Alessandra, "You're doing great Maur'", she said softly, knowing that the woman was rather nervous to be practising on a live person and even more so on a young child. A young vulnerable and terrified child who had been through such harsh experiences._

"You had been through alot Jane", Doctor Isles replied, "And you had waited for a long time to get that little girl in your arms".

"It seemed like forever", she admitted in a soft and gentle whisper as she watched the sleeping child in between them both.

"Then when the Nurse came back with the water that I requested, Allie hid against you again, didn't she?", Maura reminded her with a smile.

Jane simply nodded, she did not need to utter a single word in response.

"Throughout the whole of her stay in hospital you kept hold of her, you held her hand and you reassured her", Maura said with a proud smile etched upon her facial features.

 _Jane left the room cradling the child as she followed Maura. She refused any offer for a wheelchair and insisted on carrying the girl herself, she had promised to keep her safe and she was going to keep that promise. She had no intention on letting her go anytime soon._

Alessandra mumbled in her sleep and edged even closer to the Detective, burying in against her making Jane smile.

"You made her a promise in that hospital room, do you remember what it was?", Maura asked softly.

"You heard me?", Jane questioned in return.

The honey blonde woman nodded with a smile, "I did", she said gently, "Now do you remember what you promised her?".

 _Jane was leaning back against the clean pillows whilst she held the girl in her arms, "I've been looking everywhere for you", she said softly to the small child._

 _Alessandra looked up at her, watching her with bright blue eyes._

 _She brushed a stray curl from the girl's dirty face, "I promise you", she started in a whisper, "I promise you that I will keep you safe from now on, nobody is ever going to hurt you ever again"._

 _"But what if… what if Santa comes back?", the little one questioned with worry in the depths of her shining blue eyes._

 _The woman bit her lip softly, "He won't ever come back", she confirmed, "He's gone now and he will never hurt anyone ever again"._

 _"Promise?", she asked softly, struggling to grasp the concept._

 _"I promise", Jane replied simply._

"To keep her safe, to protect her", Jane said softly, "And I plan to keep that promise". Her plan was said with conviction and determination that rivaled that of a mother bear protecting its cubs.

Maura smiled again, she rather liked seeing Jane's protective nature shining through so brightly, it reminded her how lucky she was to have the woman in her life, "What do superheroes do?".

Jane groaned, "I'm not a superhero Maur', how many times do I have to tell you?".

"You are to me", the honey blonde Medical Examiner admitted as she reached over to press a loving kiss to the other woman's lips, "You always have been and always will be or do I need to remind you how many times that you've saved my life?".

The Detective tugged her close again to kiss her again, "I love you so much", she whispered lovingly.

Maura smiled brightly, a smile that lit up her eyes, she never grew tired of hearing her lover say those words to her as she had dreamed for so long that she would hear them and at multiple times thought that she would only ever hear them in a platonic reference, "I love you too Jane", she said in a whisper before capturing Jane's lips in a more elongated kiss.

"Jane", the woman said softly, "You were so protective over Allie in that hospital that the staff were scared to get too close, so if superheroes protect, then why do you struggle with the idea so much?".

 _The nurse had learned from her previous experiences in the room that she needed to keep her distance from the child because if she got too close then the child would become agitated and also because if she scared the child in any manner then he would face the wrath of the Detective who had taken it upon herself to protect the child from everything and anything. Of course the concept of facing the wrath of the Italian Detective was a rather frightening one for the young nurse._

Jane sighed heavily and held the little one close to her chest, "It's just that… it took me 370 days to find her Maur' and part of me feels so guilty that I didn't find her straight away", she admitted, "When I first got to the crime scene that day, all I could think about was finding her and despite the fact that the house had already been searched, I still went in to try and find her". She bit her lip gently, "She was at my apartment and I missed her", she said softly, "Chances are she never left the state and yet… I still failed to find her for 370 whole days", she said before a sob broke through, "She was with that… monster for 370 days because I failed to find her… I failed to be a superhero".

"Oh but you did find her Jane", she said softly.

"I found her by accident Maur', you and I both know it", Jane said with frustration laced within her voice, "It was just a lucky accident".

Maura did not know how to respond to that, so she brushed over it and skirted around it, "You almost growled at the social worker when she arrived at the hospital", she reminded her, "You were even protecting Allie from her".

 _The Detective watched her as the social worker nodded, her expression almost daring the woman to attempt to come closer. She looked like a Mamma Bear protecting her cub - and it was clear that nothing or no-one would get in her way to do that._

 _"Well it appears that you've had a wasted journey", Jane said, holding the little one close, "She isn't well enough to be leaving the hospital". It was Jane's way of also saying 'She isn't leaving my arms'._

 _The little one began to awake in the arms of the protective Detective and upon realising that two extra people were in the room, she curled up further towards the dark haired woman and gripped the material of her shirt much more harshly._

"I thought she was going to take her", Jane admitted, "I… couldn't let that happen. I made her a promise and I _will_ keep it Maur', I wasn't going to let her take her from me, from us".

Maura nodded, "I know", she said simply before continuing, "You even protected her from your mother".

"Well… we all need protecting from her at times", Jane joked with a slight smirk on her face.

Amusement flickered in Maura's eyes at Jane's comment and she found herself smiling at her, "She even let you bathe her".

 _Jane knelt down on the bathroom floor with the child in her arms before standing her on the ground. She spoke softly to the child as she explained every movement to her. She soon had the child undressed and in the warm bath which was filled with a large amount of bubbles. Maura had misjudged slightly how much of the liquid would be needed for the little girl's bath resulting in the bubbles to be almost as deep as the water._

"Us Maur', she let _us_ bathe her", she reminded her lover with as she reached and cupped the woman's cheek, wanting to remind her that she played a role too.

 _Maura was the one to carefully wash the child's hair, Alessandra did not object but neither did she respond very much to the action other than to smile softly for a brief period of time._

Maura nodded, smiling at the memory of being able to wash the little girl's mass of dark curls that had clearly not been washed in a vary long time, "Do you remember who made her laugh first?".

"I did", the woman replied with pride in her voice, "I kept pulling faces at her, I wasn't sure if it would work at first but...oh god Maur', it was so good to hear that sound".

 _The Detective repeatedly pulled funny and unusual faces in the direction of the curly haired child which kept making her laugh and giggle. The first time she laughed caused grins to spread across both women's faces and it made Jane want to do it over and over again. Jane seemed quite proud of her achievement._

"I admit that I was rather fond of it too", Maura admitted, "I still am".

Jane nodded with a bright smile as she remembered the sound of the little girl's laughter, "I just wanted to keep hearing it so I kept pulling different faces and trying to think of new ones to pull at her".

 _Alessandra's head was leaning quite comfortably upon the surface of Jane's shoulder, cushioned by the Detective's blazer. Her left arm remained in a sling and was in front of her whilst her other arm was snaked behind the woman, holding on to the material of her jacket._

 _Detective Jane Rizzoli was often seen as fierce and often intimidating but instead she was holding a little girl in her arms who was wrapped safely in a warm blanket, wearing only pyjamas and warm socks, and she was pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she walked along the hallway of the hospital with her hand firmly in the grasp of her co-worker's. She looked far from fierce, instead she looked softer than cashmere and she did not seem to care one bit._

"You carried her all of the way out of the hospital the next day, and you held her the whole way home", Maura recollected with a soft smile, "Do you remember why?".

 _"Everything is going to be okay now", Jane said quietly to the little girl who safely rest in her arms, "I promise you that I...we will keep you safe Allie". She seemed to promising herself as well as the child, "I'll never let you go", she whispered in a nearly inaudible voice although she did not mean to say that line out loud._

"I wanted to protect her, to keep her safe and… that meant keeping her close", she revealed.

 _The movement of the car soon sent Alessandra back into a state of slumber, Jane ran her finger over her cheek as Maura drove carefully back to Beacon Hill. "I love you Allie", she said softly as she stroked the girl's cheek. Despite not actually knowing her for that long, the little one had captured her heart from day one and she had become heavily immersed within the case._

Maura nodded as she listened to her girlfriend, "Who did she trust enough to speak Italian with?".

Jane looked down at the child yet again, "Me", she whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

"Do you not see the pattern here?", Maura asked softly, "She trusts you so much and you protect her, just like you always will".

"That doesn't make you a superhero though Maur'", she replied with a sigh.

"Okay, who woke when she had a nightmare?", Maura asked softly.

"Me", the simple answer was bounced back almost instantly.

Maura nodded, "What did she do when you went into the room?", she asked, although this time she did not know the answer.

"She was shaking, she was curled in the corner of the room", Jane said softly.

 _Alessandra was curled up in the corner of the bedroom wearing her new pyjamas, clinging to her doll and buried in a pile of bedding. She was trying to hide in the room as she cried softly behind the bedside table._

 _Jane made her way around to the side of the bed very cautiously so that she would not scare the young child and she gradually knelt down in front of her with her arms out, "Come here Tesoro", she said in a quiet voice as she repeated the same term of endearment that she had used in the hospital._

"No Jane", Maura said softly, "I mean how did she react to you?".

"She threw herself at me", Jane revealed.

Maura smiled as she imagined the scene in her head, the curly haired little child throwing herself at the woman, trusting her fully, not only to catch her but to save her from the nightmares, "You knew exactly what to do to make sure that she felt safe, not only that night but the nights following it by bringing her in here with us", she reminded her lovingly, "You knew that she needed our physical presence to reassure her".

"What about at the precinct?", Maura asked her softly, "Do you remember what happened when we had to go through the hallways to get to the bullpen?".

 _Officer Ponti grinned upon seeing the child, "I can't believe it's her!", he exclaimed, "Ain't it great?". "Oh it must be great to have finally found her, right Detective Rizzoli?", he asked enthusiastically._

 _The Detective glared at him as the little one shook in her arms._

 _He reached out to touch her and Jane growled at him, "Touch her and I swear to God that I will rip your arm off"._

 _The Officer backed up with his hands in the air as if being held by an armed suspect, "I… I'm sorry Detective Rizzoli"._

 _He was not the first nor the last to be threatened with physical violence on their way to the bullpen._

"Idiots kept pestering her", Jane almost growled, the feeling of annoyance and anger bubbling at the memory.

"Then you shielded her and threatened every person who dared to get close to her, why Jane?", Maura asked softly as she ran her hand over her girlfriend's cheek to calm her.

 _"Sensory overload", Maura stated as she stood up, "it happens when the person experiences over-stimulation from the environment around them, in this case it was the crowding of people along with the large quantity of noise". She glanced over towards the door that Barry had since shut, "I don't believe the officers helped in their…", she paused in order to word what she wanted to say correctly in a socially appropriate manner, "... over enthusiastic greetings. Although I do understand their excitement considering the BPD along with the FBI have been searching for her for over a year"._

 _"They could still back off and leave her be though…", Jane began._

 _Maura quickly cut her off, "I do believe that each and every person in the precinct now understands your views on the matter Jane". Although it had not taken them long to get to the bullpen, many had attempted to stop them as they wanted to see the little girl who had been at the centre of their biggest cases._

"To protect her", it was a phrase that seemed to be repeated multiple times, creating a pattern and theme.

"At first, you wouldn't even let Doctor Kingston near her", Maura reminded her, "Despite the fact that she needed to do her job".

 _She offered her hand to Jane next, "And Detective Rizzoli", she said softly, "It is nice to meet you, I have heard a lot about you"._

 _Jane's eyes flickered to the little girl who was clinging to her before flicking back towards the Doctor, "You too", she said without offering her hand, "I erm… would but…"._

 _Melody nodded, "I understand, you don't wish to let go, it is perfectly understandable", she said softly before bending slightly to try and make eye contact with the hidden child. When she failed to manage it she looked up towards Jane for permission, "May I?", she questioned as she indicated towards the blazer._

 _The Detective raised her eyebrow at the woman, as if to say 'May you do what?'._

 _Doctor Kingston smiled softly, "I just want to take a look at her and introduce myself", she explained politely and calmly._

Jane said nothing in response to that, she knew that she was protective but she had not realised _how_ protective until she heard so many of her actions thrown back at her.

"Who made her feel safe enough to go into the interview room?", Maura asked her girlfriend.

"Both of us", the Detective replied simply.

 _The little girl was silent as she looked up at Jane with a tilted head and then at Maura._

 _Melody then decided to attempt a slightly different way, "Would you like Detective Rizzoli and Doctor Isles to come in with you?", she asked softly._

 _This time, the little girl responded with a nod and a smile._

"Before that day, I had only seen you playing with TJ", Maura said softly, "He was the only child that I had seen you interact with and I always imagined that you would be an amazing mother but seeing you playing in that room with Allie was amazing. It was rather amusing to see you pretending that the doll could talk…"

"Shhhh", Jane said, covering her girlfriend's mouth with her hand, "You can't say that Maur', the doll is magical… of course it can talk".

Maura simply rolled her eyes and did not respond other than to stick out her tongue causing Jane to pull back her hand and glare in a playful manner. "Regardless, it was then that I realised how much of an amazing mother you were really going to be", Maura said softly, "And it made me love you even more".

Jane leaned over and kissed her girlfriend lovingly and deeply.

"You are so protective over her", Maura said softly with the little one sleeping peacefully beneath where Jane was reaching over.

"Still not a superhero, Maur'", she said with a sigh before lying back into her previous position and pulling Allie back against her chest, not realising how protective she looked in that moment.

"What about Agent Lopez?", Maura prompted.

Her eyes darkened, "I still want to shoot her", Jane admitted, "Stupid bitch couldn't even interview her without upsetting her". Jane clearly wanted to shout so she settled on a loud whisper through gritted teeth.

 _The little girl gripped the badge again, lifting it back up from the table and started mumbling in Italian._

 _Maria sighed, "You have to speak up Alessandra", she said in response._

 _"Jane", Alessandra called out, "Jane!". The little one was becoming increasingly distressed; her bright blue eyes were wide with fear and darting around in a panic, her breathing was starting to become erratic and she was starting to shake. The pain in her voice was evident._

Maura would have usually chastised the other woman for her language but she let it fly because she understood the feeling and knew how touchy the subject was, "But you went into the interview room, despite the FBI not wanting you to do it… why?".

"She needed me Maur', she needed me and I wasn't about to leave her there with her", Jane said softly as she looked down at the sleeping girl again.

 _"Try and calm her down", Doctor Kingston said through the microphone, panic was in her own voice too._

 _"That's it!", Jane declared, "I'm not going to stand here and let you torture her!"._

 _Agent Jackson called out, "Detect...ive", but it was too late, she had already left the room with the Chief Medical Examiner following closely behind her._

"She was screaming for _you_ Jane", Maura reminded her, "She was screaming for you, knowing that you would rescue her". "And you did Jane, you stormed in there and swooped her up into your arms like a superhero would in a movie", she said softly.

 _Alessandra was screaming Jane's name at the top of her lungs, gripping the woman's law enforcement badge so tightly that her tiny little knuckles had turned a deathly shade of white._

 _The moment that Jane set her eyes on the little girl, she seemed to calm and moved forward straight away to scoop up the little girl._

 _Alessandra looked up as soon as she heard the door, and when she saw Jane, the screaming stopped and she smiled before running to her._

 _As they made physical contact with each other, Jane scooped her up into her arms and span her, "Sta andando tutto bene", she repeated a few times as she told the little girl that it was going to be okay._

"Do you remember what you felt in that moment, Jane?", Maura asked softly.

Jane bit her lip, "Hearing her cry out was… it was horrible and it was if it were physically hurting me", she admitted quietly, "I just wanted to hold her, to protect her and to keep her safe… so I did". "It felt so good to be able to wrap her up in my arms and hold her close to me, I felt so… relaxed and calm when I was holding her", she revealed.

Maura smiled and nodded, "When Doctor Kingston asked her what made her feel better, she just said one word", she said softly.

 _"Safe", the little girl whispered making Jane smile brightly._

Jane smiled at the memory, "Safe", she said in a whisper.

"Then you held her throughout the interview", Maura reminded her as she looked down at Alessandra who remained fast asleep, "So that she would feel safe enough to answer Doctor Kingston's questions".

"She thought that someone spilled paint", Jane said as she remembered something that Alessandra had said to Doctor Kingston, "She said that her mother was sleeping on the floor and that they spilled red paint on the floor".

 _"Mammina was sleeping on the floor", she said softly, "and somebody spilled the paint"._

Maura bit her lip and brushed a tear from her face, her heart seemed to be in a vice grip as it pained her to think of it.

"How are we going to tell her Maur'?", Jane asked as she watched the soft movement of the child's chest as she breathed in and out calmly, "How are we supposed to tell her that her family were murdered? When she thinks it was paint spilled…when we tell her… she's going to know that it wasn't".

"I don't know Jane", Maura admitted as she reached out and squeezed her lover's hand in a reassuring manner, "I honestly don't know but… what I do know is that when the time comes we'll get through it together… as a family".

Jane nodded and brushed tears from her face before pulling Maura close, sandwiching the little girl between them more but not waking her.

"Every moment of the day, you protect her and make her feel safe without even realising it", Maura highlighted as she reached and cupped her cheek once more, "You made her feel safe enough to go back into that interview room yesterday".

"Then I left…", Jane mumbled.

"You needed to Jane", Maura responded firmly, "I know that you want to do everything in your power to make sure that she recovers from what she's been through, to make her feel safe, secure, and loved, but Jane? You need to take time for you too because this is hard on you too. You put all of your effort into finding her and he spent all of his time torturing you on purpose, using that child to cause you pain". The honey blonde woman sighed heavily, "You shouldn't feel guilty about leaving the interview room, I know it was hard to hear… trust me, I know it was… to find out how close we were to her was hard enough on me but I know that it was that much harder for you", she said softly.

Jane tried not to cry again and bit her lip but did not reply to what her girlfriend said.

"You made her feel so safe yesterday that we even had a tea party", Maura said with a smile at the memory, "It was the first tea party that I have ever attended".

 _The little girl turned to Maura, "Doctor Maura?", Allie said softly, "Would you like a cup of tea?"._

 _Her question was met with a smile from the Medical Examiner, "That would be lovely", she said politely, "Thank you Allie"._

 _Allie carefully poured the invisible tea from the yellow and red teapot into a green plastic teacup before cautiously handing it over to the woman, as if it were going to spill and the hot liquid that she imagined was there would somehow burn the woman's lap._

 _Maura pretended to take a sip, "Oh, I do believe that this may be the best cup of tea that I have ever had at any tea party", she said with a smile._

Her admission was met with a smile, although truthfully Jane was saddened that the woman had not experienced such things as a child so she decided that she would do as many activities with them both as possible.

"In the interview, when Doctor Kingston asked Allie what she did at your apartment building, who did she say she was going to see?", Maura asked, circling back to the original point.

 _The little girl was thinking back to that night, "After he took my photo, we went inside and he told me I could knock on the door, I was so excited because I was going to meet the superhero"._

"Superhero", Jane whispered softly, "But..I'm not a …", she attempted to disagree.

Maura covered her mouth, "That little girl says you're a superhero", she said softly before removing her hand, "She believes it and you know why she believes it? Because she was told over and over that you were the one that would find her, you were the one that would rescue her". Her reasoning was based on what Allie had said on the footage and how much she had clearly been 'convinced' to say what she did, "Jane, that is exactly what you did, you saved her… and you're protecting her", she reminded her, "You make her feel safe and she already knows that you were searching for her. That _you_ wanted her".

"But…", Jane tried again.

"No Jane", Maura said firmly, "Look at Allie… she believes in you Jane and _that_ is what makes you a superhero".

Jane looked down at the little one and felt her heart swell metaphorically.

"You need to get used to that Jane", Maura said softly, "You need to get used to the fact that your daughter will always see you as a superhero".

A smile spread across Jane's face as tears flowed down her cheeks but this time not out of sadness, she finally understood what Maura was trying to say. It was not grand gestures like flying through the sky to catch a falling woman or swinging from building to building to capture a super villain but instead it was as simple as protecting the ones you love and making them feel safe. She felt proud to be her (soon-to-be) daughter's superhero.

"The interviews aren't going to be easy Jane, I know they're not", Maura said softly, "We already know that from what we've already heard, not just about the photo but about a woman that we didn't even know had gone missing until yesterday". "You may be a superhero but you need to remember to take breaks too, we'll just take it in turns and keep an eye out if the other needs a moment", she said softly, "Today, I believe they may be planning to start asking her about some of the first victims or at least the ones we know about…but we will be there for her and each other".

Jane nodded and leaned in to kiss her girlfriend, "I love you Maura Isles", she said with a smile, "And I will always be there for you whenever you need me, the both of you".

Maura nodded, "I love you too Jane Rizzoli", she said lovingly with a matching smile, although she found herself wondering what it would be like to be called 'Maura Rizzoli' as she said the other woman's name, she almost craved it and found herself dreaming for the future, hoping for the future.

Jo Friday lifted her head from where she lay near Allie's feet.

"Yeah Jo, we love you too", Jane said with a smirk resulting in the dog resting her head and returning to slumber, "She's amazing with her".

"Allie with Jo or Jo with Allie?", Maura questioned wanting to confirm what exactly Jane was saying.

"Well both but I was referring to Jo with Allie", Jane admitted, "I mean… throughout the investigation, my crazy dog curled up to Allie's doll and was obsessed with it… no matter how many times I yelled at her".

Maura smiled, "If I remember correctly, you didn't just yell at her".

 _Jo Friday was on the bed in Maura's guest bedroom, she was sniffing at the doll and about to lay down beside it._

" _Jo!", Jane shouted, "How many times do I have to tell you to leave that doll alone?"._

 _She was getting frustrated as yet again, the dog ignored her and curled up around it so she picked up her slipper and threw it in the direction of the dog._

 _Maura was stood behind her with wide eyes and a slack jaw as she watched, "Jane!", she shouted out as the dog moved rather quickly not just from the bed but from the room._

" _She needs to learn to stay away from the doll", Jane said as she shut the door, "Anyways you and I both know that if I wanted to hit her then I would have done, my aim isn't that crap Maur'"._

" _Language Jane", Maura reprimanded, yet again._

"I agree though, she is _very_ good with her", she said softly as she looked down at the sleeping dog as well as the sleeping child.

"She knew it was her at the door that night", Jane said softly, "It's why she made so much noise when we got back… she was trying to tell us".

Maura usually went solely off of hard, substantial and reliable evidence but she found herself believing the same thing Jane did. Jo knew.

"I don't think I've ever seen Jo as excited to see someone as she was yesterday when she realised who was in the front room", Jane commented with a smile, "I don't even get that reaction".

"I wonder what she'll think when she meets Bass", Maura said softly as she looked down at Allie.

Jane pretended to think, "Hmmm… well I'm not sure your turtle will bounce around and want Allie to rub his tummy but who knows? Maybe he'll surprise us?".

Maura could not help but laugh softly, "First of all he's a tortoise, not a turtle… and secondly he doesn't have the ability to bounce…".

"He would if you put him on a trampoline and then bounced around him", Jane suggested with a playful smirk.

"You wouldn't dare", Maura said, she looked appalled at the concept.

"Of course not Maur', but on a totally unrelated topic…", Jane said with a falsely innocent smile, "...can we get a trampoline for the backyard?".

Maura sighed heavily, "You are impossible", she said with a shake of her head and a smile which she attempted to hide.

"But you love me", Jane said with a huge grin before kissing her.

"That is true… and I always will", Maura said as she curled up further with her little family.

Around six hours later, Jane and Maura both awoke to the sound of Alessandra giggling along with the movement of the bed caused by the small fluffball; Jo Friday, who was jumping around on the bed. She was 'attacking' the little girl with dog kisses which translated as slobbering licking to the face. The little girl was giggling happily and she was squirming around on the bed, lying in between the two women.

Despite the fact that the child had fallen asleep on the sofa, Jane made no attempt to put the child into the bedroom in the guest room and instead opted to put her in the bed with them for another night. They would eventually put her in her own room, Maura was already planning the redecorating plans for the room in her mind.

Both of the women found themselves smiling at the scene and for once, Jane didn't mind being awoken early.

They remained lying in bed for a while after waking up, soaking in the moment of spending time together, just them.

Jane pressed a kiss to Allie's head before going to get ready for the day. She put on her usual suit with a coloured v-neck t-shirt, although opted to leave the blazer off whilst she was in the house, in the warm.

Maura got up shortly after Jane in order to pull out not only what she wanted to wear but also what the child would be wearing that day too, she was rather enjoying getting to pick out clothing for the little one and in spare moments she had ordered more clothing items for the child using the internet on her cell phone.

"I'm going to start on breakfast", Jane announced with a smile. "That way you won't poison her like yesterday", she joked.

Doctor Isles rolled her eyes, "I did _not_ poison her", she said firmly, "Don't be so overdramatic".

"It was muesli", she said using the 'over dramatic' tone that Maura had referred to.

Again, Maura rolled her eyes.

Alessandra had, to Jo's disappointment, stopped playing and begun to watch the two women.

Jane turned to Allie, "Allie, didn't Maura poison you yesterday with muesli?".

She did not speak but instead, in the same way she had done the previous day, she began brushing at her tongue whilst making noises as if spitting out food, scrunching her face and shaking her head.

"See poison", Jane commented with a smirk.

"All I see is that she is as dramatic as you are, if not more", Maura commented, "She's been with us only a few days and already she's copying you".

Jane just grinned, "So turtle? You want some strawberries again?".

Alessandra rolled her eyes in the same way Maura had, "Not a turtle Jane", she said softly.

"Oh…", Jane replied, "I guess you won't be wanting any of those _delicious_ strawberries then…".

Maura was watching them both with a smile on her face.

Alessandra's eyes went wide and her jaw slackened, "Noooooo!", she almost shouted, "I want strawberries… I'll be a turtle Jane, please?".

Jane smirked, "I'll go fix you a bowl", she said before kissing the top of Allie's head and leaving the room.

"Did she break the bowl?", Alessandra asked after a while with a look of confusion as she looked over at Maura who was pulling out a green, black and white printed pattern dress from her closet.

Maura looked confused in return, "I'm sorry, what did you say?", the woman queried.

"Did she break the bowl?", the little girl repeated.

The confusion increased upon Maura's face, "What bowl?".

"The bowl that she went to fix for me", Alessandra said simply.

It took a moment before Maura realised what she was being asked, "No sweetheart, I believe that it means that she was going to put the strawberries in the bowl... although I hope it will be a fruit salad rather than just one food item", she said softly, trailing off at the end.

"Oh", Alessandra said softly, "Then why didn't she just say that?".

Maura Isles smiled, she too had wondered that on many occasions, "I don't know", she replied honestly, "I wonder that sometimes too". "How about you and Jo go down for breakfast, then you can get dressed after you eat so that you don't get strawberry juice down your clothes", the honey blonde said in a motherly tone of voice.

"Okay Maura", the little girl said as she clambered off of the bed. "Come on Jo", she called out despite the fact that the dog was already following her.

Maura began to get dressed and get ready for the day as soon as the little one left the room.

Downstairs, Jane had three bowls of fruit salad set out at the breakfast bar with one glass of orange juice and two cups of coffee were being prepared. "Good Morning Tesero Turtle!", Jane said enthusiastically.

Jo Friday yapped loudly.

"And you too Jo", Jane said with laughter as she went over to the pair.

Jo was stood at Alessandra's feet, as if she were a large guard dog despite the fact that she wouldn't be likely to be able to cause much harm to anyone.

Jane carefully swooped Alessandra up into her arms and hugged her tightly before kissing her head and planting her on a stool in front of the breakfast counter.

Suddenly a 'thump' noise was heard from the living room and the little girl threw herself back into Jane's arms as quickly as she could, clinging to the woman, she was shaking and her eyes were wide with pure fear as she stared in the direction that the noise came from.

Jane had flinched for a moment, temporarily reaching for her gun, forgetting that it was not there but also forgetting momentarily that Bass was there. That was until she spotted the creature's shell from her position at the counter in the kitchen. She chuckled, "It's just Bass, he won't hurt you Allie".

The little girl calmed but she did not seem very sure.

Knowing that the loud noise had made the little girl feel uncertain and nervous, Jane moved closer to Bass with the aim to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of.

The little one watched the creature with curiosity as they approached.

Jo Friday quite happily went over to Bass, as if she too were showing the child that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"See even Jo knows that Bass is safe", Jane commented with a smile as she sat down on the sofa with the little girl in her arms.

Alessandra simply sat silently ass he watched Bass.

Jo jumped up onto the sofa and licked at Allie's hand lightly.

Allie reached out and began to stroke the canine, she began to calm even more and seemed much more relaxed as the dog snuggled into her side.

Jane watched the little girl's reaction to Jo and could not help but smile as she watched the effect that the dog had on the child.

"You can go and stroke him if you'd like to Allie?", Jane suggested with a smile and a small encouraging nudge.

Alessandra nodded slowly before gradually getting down from Jane's lap to kneel on the floor where Jo instantly joined her.

Jo Friday sat beside the little girl as they both watched Bass, although Jo continuously checked the little girl visually.

Cautiously, the curly haired child reached out and touched the shell of the African Spurred Tortoise before extracting her hand quickly.

"Don't worry Allie", Jane reassured the child, "Maura's turtle won't bite".

"Tortoise", the little one corrected.

"I thought we went over this, if you say turtle then you get strawberries", Jane said with a cheeky grin.

Alessandra shook her head, "You said if I agreed that _I_ was a turtle then I would get strawberries", she reminded the woman, "You never said anything about the tortoise being one too".

Jane smiled, "I will give you extra ones for every time you call Bass a turtle".

The little one seemed to be contemplating the concept.

"How about, sometimes I give you extra strawberries and other times I give you candy?", Jane offered.

"Okay", the little girl agreed.

"So, that's a deal?", Jane asked with a grin.

Alessandra nodded, "Deal".

"You know we have to shake on it, right?", the woman said with a smile.

The little girl stood up and shook her entire body, completely misunderstanding Jane for the second time that day.

Jane burst into a fit of laughter, covering her mouth with one hand whilst the other was on her stomach as she fell back laughing, "No.. no… Allie… I… I… meant… shake hands", she managed to get out in between laughter.

"Oh", Alessandra said simply as she looked down at the floor.

"Oh Tesero", Jane said softly, pulling the little girl into her, "I'm not laughing at you, I promise you".

Allie snuggled into Jane comfortably.

Jane lifted her up, "Come on", she said softly as she carried her towards the kitchen, "First, wash your hands and then it's time for breakfast".

Maura walked into the room with a smile on her face as she hooked the little girl's dress up on the door, ready for her to get dressed after breakfast.

The dress was a 'Girls brown 'Tricot' dress by Lemon Loves Lime' and it was made in a soft cotton jersey material with crochet appliqué on the front, with a bow, flowers and trims to the two front pockets. The skirt was made up of asymmetrical ruffles, edged in pink, blue, lilac and yellow. There were a pair of pink tights which matched the bow of the dress hanging from the coat hanger that the dress was on. A pair of brown shoes had been placed on the floor near them and Maura planned to put her in the white coat with hat for the day.

Alessandra had started to eat her dinner when Jane looked at her, "Allie, we're going to be back in a moment okay?", she said softly.

Allie looked worried.

"I just need to talk to Maura about something okay?", she said softly, "I'll be right over there".

She looked over where the woman had pointed and nodded, "Okay", she said nervously.

"Good girl", Jane said as she kissed the child's head.

Once they had stepped away, Maura looked at Jane and whispered, "What's going on Jane?".

"I was wondering what you'd think about taking Jo with us to the precinct today", Jane mentioned softly, "It's just that ….".

"Yes", Maura replied before allowing her girlfriend to spill the reasons that she had prepared before asking.

"Really?", Jane questioned, "You don't even want to hear why?".

"Jane, there have been multiple studies done that have proven the positive effects of animals with trauma victims so I think that it is a brilliant idea", Maura said with a smile, "I think it might help her, especially as the interviews become….harder".

Jane nodded and wrapped the other woman in her arms and kissed the top of her head before they returned to the table.

Once they had eaten their breakfast, Jane turned to Allie with a huge grin, "If you get dressed and let Maura do your hair, then I think we might be able to let Jo come with us today".

The little girl's bright blue eyes went wide and her jaw dropped slightly, "Really?", she exclaimed with excitement.

"Only if you want to", Maura replied with a smile.

Eagerly, the little girl nodded, "Oh yes please!".

"Then that is settled, she can come", Maura said with a smile, she nor Jane cared as to what the FBI thought about the idea as they knew what was best for _their_ child.

"Jo! Did you hear that?", the little girl said with excitement as she swirled around on the chair to look at the dog, "You can come with us to the playroom".

The dog gave a short bark in response which made the little girl giggle.

Jane picked up her foster child and placed her on the ground where she ran straight to Jo and began to make a fuss of her straight away, rubbing her belly as the dog soaked up the attention.

"Come on Allie", Maura said softly, "It's time to get dressed".

It didn't take the woman long to get the excited child ready to leave, the dog coming along seemed to be a good idea already as she was getting dressed much quicker than what she had the previous days and she seemed much more enthusiastic about going too.

Once Alessandra was strapped into her seat with Jo opting to travel beside his new best friend and Maura in the front passenger seat, Jane began to drive towards the precinct where the little girl was about to have her third interview.

 **A/N:**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for your review, I am so glad that you are loving the story so far and I do hope that you continue to do so.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for reviewing.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for leaving a review.**

 **LoveIsles - I noticed that, I thought it was a very sweet thing of her - to honour the actor on her twitter page. I don't recall seeing anyone else doing it (but they may have done as I did not specifically look for it).**

 **Xenagabbyrizzles - 'In love' with the story? Now that is an AMAZING compliment, thank you very much! Thank you so much for your review and for your kind comments. #RizzlesNeverEnds**

 **Dawn Weller Cox - You've been reading THIS story for a few years? I published this story on Dec 31, 2015, which is less than a year ago… which means TIME TRAVEL! I have never met a time traveller before… any chance I could have the lottery numbers or find out who wins the US elections? Thank you however for leaving a review, I am glad you are enjoying it.**

 **Tasheika Conley - Thank you for your review, I agree with 'Frost' but it is working out a nickname for Vince so I am thinking about maybe sticking to Korsak? I am unsure on that one.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you so much for your review. Things have only just started to unfold… there is so much more to come. I am so glad that you are enjoying it so much, I wish that you didn't have to wait too and that you could read it the second it was posted as I know that I want to do the same when updates of stories are posted (even when in lectures it is tempting!). I agree about the fluff, it is definitely needed for both reader and writer.**

 **Tamtam86 - That was always the plan to start with, I wanted to show the story from the perspective of those investigating but then show the full story using flashbacks from Alessandra. I thought that it might give it more depth if the majority of the details were told from the child's perspective instead. Also it meant that it wasn't just the investigators that were wondering 'what happened to Little Allie' but also the reader so then it would drag everyone along with Jane and the others involved. As the interviews progress, many things mentioned will make much more sense and the smaller things will be shown to be more important than they were initially thought to be. Hopefully, the interviews won't be too bad because although the crimes are horrific, it is only really what the little girl remembers and knows, the flashbacks of course will reveal more than what she knows at times but without becoming** _ **too**_ **graphic. Your comment about the importance of Maura and Jane checking in with each other, I would like to highlight was the inspiration behind their talk at the start of the chapter where they were lying in bed together with Alessandra sleeping between them along with Jo. Later on there will be more one on one with them (possibly) but it could take a long time for Allie to be left with anyone so it may not be featured in this story other than very short moments between them or moments where Allie is asleep or distracted.**

 **Helvistica - A HUGE thank you for the private message, your message made by day! To know that my improvements in writing have been noticed and acknowledged is very encouraging so thank you and even more so to be on your limited list of favourites. Thank you so much.**


	35. Friday, January 6th - Part II

When they arrived at the precinct, Jane carried Alessandra through the precinct whilst Maura held onto Jo's leash. As they made their way through the building towards the bullpen, it was clear that Jo was much more interested in the people around them than Allie was.

Little Allie was hidden beneath Jane's blazer whilst being held securely in her arms, holding her mostly with her less dominant hand so that her more dominant hand was ready to protect her at a moment's notice.

Maura had to tug Jo's lead a couple of times in order to encourage her to follow rather than to check out the scent of each of the officers that they passed by.

This time nobody attempted to bother the little girl despite their clear curiosity as they knew that it would anger Detective Rizzoli and that was something that they most definitely did not want.

"Oh hey Jo", Korsak said as the little dog ran towards him and Maura dropped the lead accidently. The small canine was soon jumping up at the 'old man's' legs until he picked her up and placed her into his lap.

"So, how comes Jo's joined you today?", Frost asked as he looked over at Maura and Jane.

Jane was kneeling down on the floor, placing her jacket onto the chair and talking softly to Allie, brushing a stray curl behind the child's ear whilst smiling at her.

Maura was watching with a soft smile upon her lips but when she heard Barry speaking, she turned to him instead, "We thought that it would be best for Allie if she were here", she said softly, "They seemed to have taken quite a liking to each other and we thought that it might be a little easier for her if Jo was there as the interviews become… increasingly difficult".

The Detective nodded at her explanation, "Ah, like a therapy dog?".

The honey blonde Medical Examiner nodded, "Yes", she confirmed.

Jane picked the little girl back up and held her in her arms, she seemed quite content to be holding her so close to her. "So guys, been busy?".

Frost shrugged, "Nah, not many cases lately", he said as he leaned back in his office chair, "Old man over there has been busy though with his cat videos", as he said it he threw his thumb over in Korsak's direction.

"Hey!", the aging man exclaimed.

Alessandra Mai was giggling happily as she watched the interaction between the two, she seemed highly amused by it all and Jane smiled brightly as she watched the little girl in her arms laughing.

Maura was stood, leaning back against the edge of Jane's desk as she observed her girlfriend and foster daughter together.

Frost opened his desk drawer and pulled something from inside of it before getting up and making his way over to Jane. He kept a slight distance from the 'Mamma Bear' and her cub, as he spoke softly with one of his hands behind his back, "Guess what?", he said towards Allie.

Allie watched him, her head resting on Jane's shoulder but she remained silent.

"I have a surprise for you", the man continued with a happy smile, undeterred by the lack of response from the child.

Still there was no verbal response but the little girl did seem curious and was glancing down towards where his hand vanished behind his back.

Despite the silence, he still continued to smile happily, "Tada!", he exclaimed with excitement but at an acceptable level as he pulled a bag out from behind his back.

Jane smiled as she watched her partner with her foster daughter.

Alessandra watched, she was very curious about the bag but she did not reach out for it or speak.

Jo was curled up asleep in Korsak's lap as the man ran his hand over her soft fur.

"Do you know what it is?", Detective Frost asked the little girl calmly.

Little Miss Harmon had lifted her head from Jane's shoulder and was watching Frost with a slightly tilted head. Her expression was very 'Maura-like' as Jane would describe it. After a moment of looking at the bag, she shook her head, a silent answer.

Barry smiled, "Would you like to open it?", he asked as he reached out, offering the small paper bag to her.

The small child looked up at Jane, partially for permission and partially for reassurance.

Jane Clementine Rizzoli smiled brightly, "It's okay", she said softly, "You can take it".

"I promise you that there is nothing in there that can bite you", Barry joked with a huge grin.

Cautiously, Alessandra reached out her hand to take the bag from her foster mother's colleague, but she did not open it and instead she simply held it in her hands.

"What do you have Allie?", Jane asked with eagerness, playing up her curiosity in a playful manner to encourage the little girl, "Let me see, let me see".

Allie giggled and opened the bag.

Maura was watching as the little girl's mouth dropped open and she seemed excited about the contents.

"Ooohhh yum!", Jane exclaimed, "Candy!".

Frost laughed, "That is for Allie, not you".

Jane pouted, "No fair", she said although not seriously, "Why don't I get candy?".

The little girl reached into the bag and pulled out a lollipop - it was a flat and circular in shape, and red in colour.

"Because you're an adult Jane", Frost replied, still laughing at his colleague's behaviorisms as he knew she was playing around.

Jane pouted again, "But….".

She did not get to finish her sentence because as she began to speak, a little girl put the red cherry flavoured lollipop into her mouth.

Jane had no choice but to close her lips around it to hold it there as the child moved her hand away. She seemed a little shocked.

The others however found it highly amusing, Frost was even doubled over as he laughed at the little girl's response.

"Wow… someone actually managed to silence you Jane", Korsak joked.

Detective Rizzoli glared at him but again she was not serious.

Allie was slightly confused, she was a little bit unsure as to what was so funny but she smiled and grinned despite that fact.

"Hey, at least I got a piece", Jane said with a grin, after removing the piece of candy from her mouth with her spare hand.

The blue eyed little girl remained on Jane's hip as she investigated the bag of candy that she had been given - it contained a range of different candies. The little one quite happily offered a piece to Maura but then made Jane offer pieces to the two men - they all accepted as they did not wish to offend the child.

For a while they sat for a while in the bullpen, talking and catching up on things.

Jane was sat on her chair with Allie in her lap - the little girl was sitting facing Jane, straddling her waist with her arms tightly around her. Jane had taken off Allie's hat and coat but then covered the little one with her own jacket instead. Alessandra was looking up slightly at Jane, twirling one of the woman's curls with her little fingers; she seemed very content to just be in the woman's arms.

Maura was perched on the edge of Jane's wooden desk, close enough to Jane that their legs were touching.

Korsak and Frost were in their assigned seats although both had wheeled themselves closer to them (Although not close enough for Allie to become nervous).

At five minutes to the hour, Jane stood up with little Allie on her hip and they began to walk through the corridors towards the interview room, ready for the allocated time that they were supposed to be there to see Doctor Melody Kingston.

Jane did not need to invite the two men along this time as they simply followed without being prompted to - despite it technically not being 'their case' since the Federal Bureau of Investigation took it over months previously, Lieutenant Cavanaugh understood the importance of the case for the team which was why Jane never truly did get into trouble when she 'interfered with the investigation' by using her spare time to investigate and instead he would simply tell her to 'be more careful next time'. He knew that if he put her on desk duty or forced leave, then she would simply have even more time to use to investigate into the case and she would be at more risk because she would have less back up.

"Good Morning Alessandra", Doctor Kingston said softly as she looked at the little girl who was being held in very protective arms with two male detectives following as if they were secret service bodyguards.

Alessandra smiled softly but did not speak.

"And who is this?", the woman knelt down on the floor to stroke Jo who was bouncing around happily, yapping a little.

The little girl smiled, "Jo", she replied simply.

"Well, hello there Jo", the English woman said with a smile as she made a fuss of the small animal who was still on her leash. Maura kept a hold on the leash as the little ball of fluff jumped around.

When Jo attempted to 'kiss' the woman's cheek with her energetic licks, little Allie began to giggle - seeming rather amused by her furry friend's behaviour.

Once she had greeted the small dog, she returned to her full height in order to speak to Alessandra, the woman did not seem fazed that the dog was there.

"Are you ready to go and play in the playroom again?", Melody asked with a bright smile.

Her bright blue eyes shot straight to the door before she looked back at the child psychologist and nodded in confirmation.

"Are Maura and Jane going to go in and play too?", the woman asked softly.

Alessandra Mai nodded with a smile.

Melody smiled, "What about Jo?", she asked gently, "Do you think Jo would like to come in with you too?".

The orphaned child nodded, "Jo wants to play dolly".

"Oh she does, does she?", the woman asked with a huge smile, "Well then you best get her in there then because that sounds quite exciting".

Alessandra wriggled in Jane's arms until she was put down on the floor, she knelt down to stroke Jo and before anyone realised, the little girl had unclipped the leash. What she had done was not clear until she ran into the playroom with Jo at her heels whilst Maura stood holding an empty leash with a look of slight surprise on her face.

Jane just laughed and followed the child into the playroom whilst carrying her jacket. She slipped the jacket onto the chair as Maura entered the room and placed the leash on the floor near the door.

The two male detectives along with the child psychologist had both gone into the observation room where the FBI agents were.

Alessandra was sat on the floor in her Brown 'Tricot' Ruffle Dress beside Jo Friday. The little girl pulled out the pram from the side of the room.

"Would you like your dolly?", Maura asked softly as she extracted it from her bag and offered it to her.

"Oh, no thank you", the little girl said politely without turning around.

Maura looked a little confused at the rejection of the doll, wondering how the child would play with doll items without a doll.

Her question was soon answered when the little girl encouraged Jo Friday to jump into the doll sized pram to lay down.

Jane burst into laughter as she watched her dog in the pink doll's pram, and Maura looked slightly shocked before laughing herself.

"See?", the little girl said as she turned to Maura, "I don't need to play with dolly, I'm playing with Jo". The little girl began to push the pram around the room although it was a little more difficult to push with the dog in it than it had been with the doll, "Jo's a baby now", she said as she smiled, she seemed quite pleased with herself.

 **Frost laughed, "I can't believe that Jane is actually letting her push Jo in a** _ **pink**_ **stroller", he commented with pure amusement within his voice.**

Jo yapped, she seemed to 'agree' as she had willingly jumped into the pram and seemed rather happy being inside of it.

 **Korsak shrugged, "It is Allie", he said with a slight smirk, "I'm betting that kid could get away with pretty much anything right now and anyway it looks like Jo is enjoying the attention".**

"Well, Jo makes a very adorable baby", Maura said softly towards the little girl who seemed quite content to be pushing the small dog around in the doll's pram whilst Maura cradled the actual doll in her arms.

 **Melody watched from behind the screen, listening to the two men but focusing much more on the two women and the child that were in the child-friendly interview room. She was not only observing the interactions between the child and the two women, as well as the interactions between the two women with each other, but also the interactions that they had with the canine - more importantly the way the child responded to the dog and vice versa.**

The little girl gradually grew bored of pushing the small dog around in the pram and 'parked' the pram to the side so that Jo could jump out but instead she remained inside of the doll's toy.

"You don't want out Jo?", the little one asked her.

Jo simply yapped and lay back down in the pram, seeming content and also appearing to be taking a nap.

Alessandra moved over to Maura with a bright smile on her face.

Maura was kneeling on the floor beside her bag with her foster daughter's doll in her hands, when Allie approached her, and so she offered her the doll with a bright smile.

Instead of taking hold of the doll, she turned around and planted herself in the honey blonde woman's lap.

Doctor Isles seemed slightly surprised at it but a huge smile extended across her face as she placed the doll on the floor before wrapping her arms securely around the child.

Jane shuffled a little closer to the two of them, she loved to watch them interact with each other and even more, she loved to see how well 'Little Allie' seemed to fit. Not only fit but make them into a family.

The Italian woman loved to see what a great mother her girlfriend was turning out to be, although truth be told she had never held any doubts over the concept even if she knew that Maura had done.

Despite the woman's rather frosty upbringing, she herself was a very loving and attentive mother towards the little girl who seemed to be over the moon that she had a little girl to dress up in adorable clothing as well as to play with her hair, putting it into a multitude of different styles.

Alessandra seemed rather patient with being dressed up and her hair being altered - she would sit there quietly and remain still so that the woman could concentrate. It was not clear as to if she actually wanted or liked to be dressed up as if she were a life-sized doll or if she were simply adhering to what the woman wanted.

Maura Isles kissed Allie's cheek lovingly and kept hold of her in a protective embrace, her love for the child that sat in her lap, shone brightly, brighter than the sun.

 **The FBI agents, Vince Korsak, Barold Frost and Doctor Melody Kingston all watched on through the glass with smiles upon their faces. Melody have given her reference the previous day to the social workers involved in the case, she knew that there should be some good news in the future for the little girl and her soon-to-be adoptive family.**

Jane smiled happily and wrapped her arms around the two of them in order to hold them close to her, the little girl instantly put her head against the woman's chest as the Detective kissed Maura upon the lips in a brief yet very loving manner.

 **Doctor Kingston took a deep breath, she knew that this interview was going to be hard and without asking, she already knew why the canine was there. Dogs were becoming an increasingly common feature within courtrooms were children had to testify and sometimes in other cases too in order to lower the psychological stress brought on by the experience.**

 **The woman did not wish to interrupt their time together but knew that it had to be done so that the interviews would be over and that they could go home. She did not want to make the child stay in the interview room for longer than what was necessary.**

Alessandra looked up towards the door, she had heard movement outside of the room and she was slightly nervous. That was until she saw Doctor Kingston entering the room. The little girl quite happily smiled towards the woman.

Doctor Kingston smiled widely at the little girl, she loved to see Alessandra's smile - it was one of the bonuses of her job when she could make a little one smile, even more so when it was merely by being there.

Maura did not let go of Alessandra or lessen her grip on the child at all - Melody noticed the protective nature of both of the women. It was lowering slightly but it was noticeable.

"Hello Alessandra", the woman said politely as she closed the door behind her and stepped further into the room - stepping cautiously so that she would not cause anxiety or fear in the child by accidently presenting herself as a threat.

Alessandra was silent for a moment before whispering a very quiet 'Hello' in return.

Doctor Kingston crouched down near the three of them although at a safe distance, "How are you feeling today?", the woman asked softly, testing to see whether she would answer although she knew that the chances was rather slim.

Jo jumped out of the pram and made her way over to where they were, putting herself beside her new best friend.

The woman was correct in her hypothesis and the little girl stared silently in the direction of the curly haired psychologist.

"Do you remember that last time you were here, I asked you to look at some different photos for me?", Melody asked the orphaned little girl. Melody made sure to put her hand out to Jo, letting the dog sniff her again to ensure that the dog did not see her as a threat.

Allie nodded in confirmation but did not comment on the photos at all as she began to stroke Jo softly.

Melody held up a brown file, much like the same one that she had for the previous interview, "Would you be willing to look at some more for me?".

The blue eyed child tilted her head slightly as she considered the concept, whilst her eyes were focused on the file in the woman's soft hands.

"It's just a few photos of some people that we thought that might know", she explained gently, "I was wondering if you could tell me if you know them and then what you know about them".

Her head remained tilted in a fashion that showed her curiosity as she slowly nodded - she was clearly a little hesitant.

Melody smiled in an understanding manner, "You can tell us anything that you want or can remember", she said whilst remaining crouched on the floor, "You can tell us their name, or what they were like… if they did anything fun with you… or even their favourite colour if you'd like".

Alessandra Mai Harmon smiled and nodded, having the explanation made her feel a little more at ease with the idea.

"Is it okay if we go over to the table where we sat last time?", Doctor Kingston asked politely.

The dark haired child nodded and gradually got up from Maura's lap as Melody made her way over to the table.

Once at the table, she waited for her two foster mothers to kneel down on the floor before sitting herself in Maura's lap.

Jo followed obediently, she seemed curious as to what was going on.

Jane picked Jo up from the floor and placed her in her own lap, ensuring that Allie could reach the dog.

Allie began to stroke the dog with her left hand, tracing her fingers through the soft fur of the four legged animal beside her.

Jo sat comfortably within the lap of her 'owner' as she was stroked lovingly by her new friend.

Melody Kingston smiled softly as she observed the dynamic within the newly formed family, "If you want to stop at any time, you feel free to let me know, okay Alessandra?".

Alessandra nodded in confirmation of her understanding.

Doctor Kingston smiled, "And if you'd like to take a break, you let me know too, okay?".

Again, the little girl nodded to confirm in a positive yet silent manner.

"Also if you want anything to drink or eat", she said in a caring way.

"Okay", the young child whispered softly in response with a nod.

Melody smiled, "Okay", she parroted back to confirm, "Are you ready?".

Allie nodded as she leaned on the table a little, she was looking at the light brown folder that lay on the table between herself and the Doctor.

Detective Jane Rizzoli and Doctor Maura Isles were both silent as Doctor Melody Kingston opened the file on the table. Maura kept her arms wrapped around Alessandra's waist to reassure her whilst Jane had her hand on Maura's thigh beside Allie's leg. Jo sat patiently and quietly on Jane's lap.

The first picture was of a woman who had dark hair, she appeared to be in her mid-thirties and she was wearing a pair of dark jeans with a strappy light blue top along with a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like a heart although it was only the outline of the shape and it had a small diamond at the top left side of the heart.

"Do you recognise this woman?", Melody asked the little girl opposite her, gently.

Alessandra nodded as she looked at the photo of the woman who was posed sat on a large branch of a tree within what appeared to be a large park with a substantial amount of grass area behind her.

Melody observed the child's behaviour as she questioned her, "Do you remember her name?", she asked, wanting to start off with 'easier' questions.

The curly haired child nodded, "Lauren", she said softly, "Lauren Shepard… like the people who look after sheep". Her comment about the last name made Melody smile, the child's memory seemed very good but that could be explained by her impressive IQ scores which Melody was already aware of. Melody knew that multiple things could help a person remember and one of them was affiliation such as the link between the woman's name and 'Shepherds'.

"That's right", Doctor Kingston said with a smile, "Do you remember anything else about her?".

The little girl thought for a moment.

 _Alessandra was sat on the disgustingly tattered and dirty sofa in the living room, she was watching what appeared to be an old western movie - so old that it did not even contain the slightest bit of colour. She was sat neatly at the edge of the sofa with her feet dangling from the edge - they barely managed to reach the unsanitary floor._

 _The little one was still in the set of pyjamas that she had been taken from her home in but now they were dirty - covered in marks of soil and dust._

 _She had been missing for around a week._

 _Laying down on the sofa behind her was an overweight man who was wearing a pair of scruffy jeans which had large holes in the knees where there should have been material, and a white tank top which was no longer anywhere near being white and instead resembled a grey colour with grease stains scattered on it. The man's hair stomach was hanging out below the bottom of the top as it had risen slightly, although it did not have to rise much to reveal his grotesque looking belly button. His hair appeared to be greasy, and his face was covered in dark stubble that was scattered with grey which created a 'salt and pepper' appearance to it. The man's feet were bare and clearly he had no knowledge of what a pedicure was or even a bar of soap as they were covered in dirt with the soles of them almost completely black in colour whilst his chipped and slightly overgrown toenails were almost yellow in colour - a gross and stomach turning shade._

 _Alessandra nudged herself forward a little more so that she could move away from the man, he had instructed her to sit there as well as to 'shut up', to 'stay quiet' and 'don't move'. The smell however that was being emitted by the man who was snoring behind her was making her feel rather queasy - the bodily odour was rather strong and it made her stomach turn. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to go outside where the smell could not reach her and she would not have to be seated by something that was so unclean - the concept of being so dirty had never been something that she had witnessed before._

 _She was not too keen on being in the same set of pyjamas for so long and she definitely was not comfortable with the fact that she had not had a bath - although truth be told the concept of having a bath with the help of any of the men that she had met did scare her rather a lot and make her extremely nervous._

 _The tired and hungry little girl looked up at the unclear window when she heard the sound of the truck pulling back into the dirt driveway and stop almost violently in front of the house. She glanced towards the man behind her and noticed that he was still snoring in a manner that seemed to her to resemble a bear of some kind - although she imagined that a bear would smell better and would be much more appealing to sit beside, even if it were a hungry one._

 _The slob of a man jumped awake in shock when the sound of the truck door slamming echoed throughout the house and surrounding area. A voice could be heard outside but it was impossible to understand exactly what was being said._

 _It was not long before the screen door was yanked open and a woman stumbled into the room with Hoyt or 'Santa' as the little girl knew him as, followed behind her, forcing her further into the room._

 _Hoyt thrust a bag into the nervous woman's hands which forced her to take hold of the white plastic bag which seemed to have clothing inside of it, "You know what to do", the cruel sounding man stated in an authoritative manner, "Do it!"._

 _The woman nodded and moved towards the little girl before kneeling down in front of her, "Hello", she said softly._

 _Alessandra whispered softly, "Hello", in return and shuffled slightly towards the woman - it seemed to be an excuse to get further away from the foul smelling man._

 _She felt ill at the scent of the man who was still lying behind the child, "My name is Lauren", she said in a kind tone of voice, as it was not the child's fault that she had been taken against her will and forced to be there by the aging man watching them, "What's yours sweetheart?"._

 _The little one paused but eventually she spoke in a quiet voice, "Alessandra", she said softly._

 _Lauren smiled at the little girl, "That is a very pretty name", she said gently as she reached out to brush a tangled lock behind the child's ear._

 _Alessandra flinched slightly but relaxed when she realised that the woman was not going to cause her any harm - at least not in that moment._

 _The dark haired woman smiled sadly at the little girl's reaction, it made her wonder what had been going on in the home and she was unaware of the murder case of her family along with the kidnapping case of the child. She did however know that neither her or the little one were safe where they were. She knew that she not only had to find a way to safely escape herself but that she needed to take this little girl with her - she did not belong there, she did not belong in the dirty, tacky little cabin with these evil looking men._

 _Eventually the little one leaned her cheek into the warmth of Lauren's hand and closed her eyes gently. She seemed to be enjoying the soft touch of the woman who she did not even know - it showed how much she craved love._

 _The mannerisms of the little girl were already revealing a lot to the dark haired woman and she bit her lip gently, she hated to see that this little girl had been suffering._

"Santa brought her to the cabin", the little girl said softly as she looked at the photo.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "Do you remember what happened when she got to the cabin?".

The little girl nodded, "I was on the sofa with…", she paused, trying to remember, "I was on the sofa with Curtis and he was sleeping while a really old movie was on".

"Do you remember what Curtis looked like?", she asked carefully.

"He was a big man, he was really dirty and his hair looked wet… but it wasn't really wet", the little girl said softly, "He smelt really bad too and his feet were black".

Maura visibly cringed, although Alessandra could not see her facial reaction as she had her back to the woman.

"He had holes in his jeans and his top was too small, because I could see his hairy belly", the child revealed, "He had a hairy face too and his hair needed a haircut because it was too long".

" **Have we got a Curtis on the list?", Agent Derrick Jackson asked as he stood watching the little girl. He was wearing a dark coloured suit with a deep blue tie and had his arms crossed in front of him as he observed the interview.**

 **The blonde female agent; Agent Jennifer Summers glanced towards him, "Curtis Ray. He is on the list of known associates, he was also listed as the owner of the truck that was found abandoned on the interstate", she explained without taking her eyes off of the little girl, "We're still looking for him".**

"Do you remember what happened after you were watching the movie?", Doctor Kingston prompted.

Alessandra nodded, "Santa came back and he brought Lauren with him", she said softly, "She came over to me and told me her name, then she asked me what mine was too". The little girl touched the cheek of the woman in the photo, "She put her hand on my cheek", she said quietly, "It felt really warm".

"Do you remember what she was wearing when she came in?", she encouraged.

After a moment, the little girl replied, "She was wearing a pretty green dress that wrapped around and she was wearing sandals too, like the ones you wear on a beach". She thought the footwear was strange but decided that she had been somewhere a little warmer beforehand.

"Do you remember what happened after she touched your cheek?", the FBI psychologist asked gently.

 _Lauren smiled at the little girl, "Would you like to get clean?", she asked softly._

 _The little girl looked at the woman nervously but after pausing for a moment, she nodded gradually and spoke quietly, "Yes...yes, please"._

 _The dark haired woman smiled and stood up before picking up the little girl._

 _Alessandra froze for a moment but relaxed a little into the woman's arms after a moment._

 _Lauren had felt the child tense up and wondered if she should put her down but when the child relaxed a little, so did she._

 _Hoyt told the woman where the bathroom was in a rough manner, throwing his arm out in the direction of the bathroom and narrowly missing the little girl's head._

 _Quickly, Lauren made her way in the direction that the man had indicated and soon she found herself standing in front of a bathroom that was much dirtier than the child that she was holding. She cringed, she knew that she would have to clean the bathtub in order to clean the child or she would come out dirtier than when she went in._

 _Lauren carefully placed the little girl on the floor before turning around and shutting the door - shutting the two men out. She then set to work cleaning the bathtub with a rag that she found on the floor._

 _The little girl watched for a moment, she was unsure what to do as she looked around the grime filled bathroom. She had been in it before to use the toilet but she had not been in there for anything else. She had not even known if the bath worked._

 _The caring woman turned the tap to start the flow of water as she rinsed the bathtub to finish cleaning it, she then picked up a flannel and used some of the soap to clean the flannel itself as it too was dirty. When it was as close to the light blue as she could possibly get it, she put the plug into the base of the bath and adjusted the taps to the correct temperature._

 _Only when the taps were running did the woman turn to the little girl and speak in a soft whisper, "Are you okay?", she asked with concern._

 _Alessandra could barely hear her over the sound of the running water which meant that anyone outside would not be able to hear anything. The little girl did not however know how to answer the question, her eyes instead began to fill with tears. She clearly was not 'okay'._

 _Lauren swiftly took the little girl into her arms and held her close, in a comforting and rather maternal manner._

 _The dark haired child in dirtied pyjamas tensed up but rather quickly relaxed into the embrace and clung to the woman in desperation for comfort that she in reality wanted from her mother rather than the stranger who was kneeling in the bathroom in front of her._

 _Whilst keeping an eye on the level of the bath water, the woman held the little one close to her and subconsciously rocked her in her arms slightly. After a moment, she pulled back and cupped Allie's cheeks with both of her hands, "Have they hurt you?", she asked with slight hesitation._

 _Alessandra noticed that the woman's hands smelt a little like mango - although the scent was only just noticeable, the softness of her hands suggested it could possibly be the scent of her hand lotion. The child shook her head to indicate that they had not harmed her._

 _Relief washed over the facial features of the kidnapped woman and she pulled her back into her embrace again, holding her close. "How about you get out of these pyjamas and then we can get you into that lovely, warm bath so you can get clean, okay?"._

 _Allie nodded and silently she began to undress with only slight hesitation._

 _Lauren checked the temperature of the bath water with her elbow before switching off the taps to stop the water filling the bath any further._

"Alessandra?", Doctor Kingston prompted, "What happened next? Do you remember?", she asked the temporarily vacant child.

She looked up from the photo briefly before she returned her attention back to the photo of Lauren Shepard, "She picked me up and took me into the bathroom so that I could get clean", she said softly, "But she had to clean the bath first because it was so dirty".

" _I'm sorry that there aren't any bubbles", Lauren said softly as she helped the child into the bathtub, despite the lack of bubbles not being her fault._

 _Alessandra simply smiled, she just liked the idea of having a bath so it did not matter too much to her if there were bubbles in there or not, even if she was rather fond of them. She was especially fond of the lavender bubbles that her mother put into her bath when she was having a bath before bedtime, even though the product was designed for babies and infants._

 _Lauren was very careful as she helped the small child into the bathtub, she was aware that there was no type of grip on the bottom of the bath which would make it very easy to slip in the water._

 _She sat down in the warm water and sighed at the feeling of being embraced by the warmth of the liquid._

 _The kind and gentle woman helped the child to clean herself before she looked around for a towel so that she could get Alessandra out of the bath and get her dried. She quickly realised that the only towel in the room was a scrunched up one which was just as dirty as the flannel had been but it was visibly wet and had been abandoned on the floor, an undetermined length of time ago._

 _Lauren sighed and paused for a moment, trying to think of a solution of how to get the now clean child, dry. She removed the thin white bolero cardigan that she had around her shoulder and placed it in her lap before helping the little one out of the bath, safely._

 _Once Alessandra was out of the bath, she began to shiver a little from the temperature difference between the water and the surrounding air._

 _Lauren picked up the bolero and began to dry the little one with it, dabbing at the moisture carefully as she did not want to hurt the child._

 _Alessandra was a little confused at how she was being dried off, usually getting dry after a bath involved a large, fluffy and warm towel._

" _This is all we have right now", Lauren explained in response to the unasked question, "Maybe we can find a clean towel next time?"._

 _The little girl nodded in response but remained silent._

 _Lauren opened the plastic bag and pulled out a set of pyjamas from it - they still had the labels on and she swiftly pulled them off. She handed them to the child, letting the child dress herself whilst she washed the old pyjamas in the bath water by hand and then hung them on the shower curtain rail in order for them to dry although she knew that they would not be very soft without fabric softener and real laundry powder._

 _Alessandra stood patiently, waiting for the woman to finish washing the clothing._

 _Lauren frowned when she turned to Allie and realised that the dress was a couple of sizes too big - it swamped the little girl. It showed her that the man clearly did not know the child very well as he had gotten her the wrong sized clothing._

 _Little Allie smiled brightly, she felt a little better once she was clean and in something different - even it were something that resembled a circus tent in what she deemed a 'disgusting' shade of pink._

" _Do you like your new dress Alessandra?", the woman asked softly, smiling to pretend that it was good._

 _Alessandra looked down at herself briefly before returning her attention to the woman in front of her, "It's… pink", she said with a scrunched up face._

 _Lauren laughed with amusement, "You don't like pink then, huh?", she asked despite the answer being clear. She was scared and she was nervous but she knew that she had to remain calm and show signs of normalcy to keep the little girl happy and at ease._

 _Allie shook her head, "Nope", she said simply, "My sister loves pink… she's crazy"._

 _The woman found herself smiling at the little girl, the child seemed to have something about her that made it hard to resist smiling._

"Do you remember what happened after the bath Alessandra?", Doctor Melody Kingston asked Little Allie.

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she whispered.

Melody nodded, "Do you remember anything else about her? Anything at all?".

"She gave me lots of hugs", the little one responded.

Doctor Kingston smiled, "I bet that was nice, wasn't it?".

Allie nodded but did not say a word in response to the psychologist's comment.

"Anything else?", Melody prompted, "Do you remember anything you did together? Did she cook anything nice? Did she play games with you?".

Alessandra shook her head, "I don't remember", the little girl said softly.

Melody nodded, "Okay, would you like to take a break? How about you go with Jane and Maura and go and get yourself a candy bar?", the woman said softly, "Would you like that?".

The curly haired little girl nodded, she seemed quite excited about the idea of a candy bar.

Doctor Kingston extracted a couple of notes from her pocket and handed them to the child, "This is for the candy bar", she said with a smile. There was a small fund at the FBI that was used to purchase small items for children in order to comfort them during interviews and other procedures- sometimes it was as simple as a candy bar and a drink.

Alessandra stood up from Maura's lap and Jo quickly followed suit, the small creature remained at the little girl's heels as if they were linked in the style of Peter Pan's shadow.

Melody went out of the room and into the observation room to speak with the agents to see if there was anything additional that they needed to know about this particular woman.

Jane picked Allie up when the little girl froze in the doorway and would not step out of the room. She carried her to the vending machine which was within eyesight of the interview room door.

"What would you like from the vending machine Allie?", Maura asked as Jo jumped up at the machine.

"Sorry Jo, they don't do dog treats in there", Jane said as she looked down at the dog.

A slight whimper came from the dog as she sat back down on the floor.

Alessandra Mai pointed out a bar of chocolate that she recognised, "Please may I have that one?".

Jane nodded, "Sure", she said softly, "Would you like to press the buttons?".

The little girl nodded eagerly.

Detective Rizzoli began to show her how to work the machine, telling her where to feed the bills into and which buttons to press to get her chosen candy item.

It was not long before the little girl was back seated in the playroom, although this time she had opted to sit in Jane's lap instead, choosing to switch for a while.

Jane was kneeling on the floor near the table with Maura in front of her and Jo had decided to chase her own tail.

Alessandra watched the animal in amusement and was soon laughing at the dog's antics, "She's crazy", the little girl commented happily.

"She takes after her Mama", Maura commented with a slight smirk on her face.

"Hey!", Jane exclaimed, feigning offence.

The interaction between the two women simply made the little girl laugh even more.

 **Frost and Korsak could not help but laugh at what they heard, they had to agree with Maura, not that they would admit that in front of the fiery Italian woman however.**

Once the laughter had died down a little bit, Alessandra held out her candy bar to Maura, "Please could you open it?", she asked politely, in a soft tone.

"Of course", Maura responded instantly as she plucked the bar gently from the child's hands and began to open it.

Jo soon stopped running around in tight circles and sat down, she was panting slightly from the unusual exercise that she had decided to randomly carry out.

Maura handed the bar of chocolate over to the little girl, the wrapper had been tugged down so that it only covered approximately three quarters of the candy bar.

"Thank you", Alessandra said politely as she took the bar from her foster mother's hand.

Jane squeezed the little girl slightly, resting her head on the child's shoulder - it was clear that she enjoyed having the little girl safely within the confines of her arms.

As soon as she had the chocolate bar in her hands she broke off a strip of chocolate and offered it to Maura.

Maura Isles smiled brightly, "Thank you so much Allie, but it's yours so maybe you should eat it all?".

Alessandra frowned and shook her head, "I want to share", she said softly knowing that her bag of candy was currently sat in Jane's desk drawer.

She hesitated slightly but nodded, "Well, in that case, thank you very much", she said with a smile as she took the offered piece of chocolate.

Allie broke off a second strip of chocolate before she turned slightly in Jane's embrace, or at least she tried. She found it impossible to do so in the tight embrace of the dark haired Detective.

Jane laughed softly but did not let up.

The little girl frowned slightly and reached over her shoulder with the piece of chocolate, turning her head slightly so that she could see where she was putting the chocolate.

Detective Rizzoli happily accepted the piece of chocolate directly into her mouth before mumbling, with a mouthful the words "Thank you", although it did come out as a slightly incoherent mumble.

"Jane!", Maura chastised, "That's disgusting, you could have at least waited until you had finished your mouthful in order to speak".

Another incoherent mumble came from behind Allie but this time it was impossible to unravel what exactly the woman had said.

Maura simply rolled her eyes at her girlfriend's antics and yet the love she felt for the woman still shone through brightly despite the slightly gross habit.

Next, the little girl broke off a third strip of chocolate after placing the bar on the table, she began to eat the slice of chocolate. Alessandra was happily leaning back into Jane as she ate her chocolate.

Once the little girl finished her piece of chocolate, she reached her arm out and picked up the photo of Lauren Shepard from the edge of the table where it had been left. The folder was on the other side and closed.

"Aren't you going to eat the rest of your chocolate, Allie?", Maura asked as she glanced at the chocolate bar.

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she said simply in response to the question that the honey blonde woman had posed to her.

Maura frowned slightly, "Why not? Do you not like it?", she asked with curiosity.

The little one smiled, "I'm saving it".

"What are you saving it for?", Maura asked softly, not wanting to guess as to why the child would be saving the chocolate that she was permitted to eat.

"I have three more strips left", she stated, "One for Doctor Melody, one for Frosty and one for Old Man".

Jane burst into laughter at what the little girl said whilst Maura bit her lip, trying but failing in her attempts not to laugh.

 **Frost erupted into a fit of laughter, almost doubled over when he heard the little girl call Korsak, 'Old Man'.**

 **Korsak glared at Frost, "This is your fault", he stated with slight annoyance despite the fact that coming from the mouth of the adorable little girl, it did in fact seem rather cute.**

" **Old Man", Frost said in between his laughter, tears in the corners of his eyes were he was laughing so hard.**

 **The agents along with the psychologist were rather amused too but not to the extent that the others were.**

" **Yeah well… she called** _ **you**_ **Fros** _ **ty**_ " **, Korsak pointed out, "Like the freaking snowman".**

 **Barry laughed, "Yeah but… but at least I'm not an old man", he said with pure amusement.**

 **Korsak glared at him slightly before rolling his eyes at his behaviour and turning his attention back to the window where Jane was laughing along with Maura but Little Allie looked a little confused despite laughing a little - her laughter however was more about the current behaviour of the two women rather than what she herself had said as she was unsure as to what had triggered the strange reaction in the two women.**

Alessandra looked up when she heard the click of heels and then she saw Doctor Kingston return to the room.

"Hello Alessandra", she said softly, "Did you enjoy your candy?".

The little one nodded, "I saved some for you too", she said excitedly as she broke off another strip of chocolate - it was much easier to move now that Jane had lessened the grip that she had had on her waist.

"That was very kind of you", Melody said softly, "Thank you very much".

Alessandra handed over the piece of chocolate to the woman with a bright smile.

Melody Kingston knelt down on the floor again, returning to the position that she had been in before they had their short break.

The little girl had the photo of Lauren Shepard still in her lap, she was looking at the image of the woman and trying to remember her.

 _Alessandra was in Lauren's arms, the woman stumbled a little down the stairs and they almost both rolled down the unstable wooden steps to the basement._

 _Hoyt was stood behind them, he had pushed the dark haired woman which was why she had stumbled._

 _Lauren had been hesitant to enter the basement._

" _We have to go to bed Lauren", Alessandra said softly in a whisper as the door closed._

 _Lauren looked around at the rather dark, damp and very dirty basement, "Is this where you always sleep?", the woman asked the little girl who remained on her hip._

 _Alessandra Mai Harmon nodded, "Uh huh", she said softly._

" _How long…", Lauren paused and took a deep breath, "How long have you slept down here?"._

 _The little girl shrugged, "I'm not sure", she said softly, "How long ago was Christmas Eve?"._

 _The innocent question took the woman by surprise, "Erm… a little over a week?", she responded as she looked into the bright blue eyes of the little girl._

" _Then a little over a week then", Alessandra responded, answering the question, "I've slept down here for a little over a week"._

" _Where was you before you slept here?", the woman asked gently._

" _I used to live with my Mammina and Papa", she said with a smile before her smile formed into a look of sadness, "I miss them"._

 _Lauren stopped that line of questioning when tears began to make their way down the little girl's cheeks, "I'm sure they miss you too Alessandra", she said softly, "You'll be home with them soon". She was not aware of the fact that the little girl would never see them again._

 _Alessandra nodded as Lauren wiped her tears from her tiny little cheeks, "Santa said that Jane is going to come for me", she revealed, "Apparently a lady called Jane is a Detective and she… she is looking for me"._

" _Do you know who Jane is?", the woman asked softly, opting to skip the 'he isn't Santa' part, "Have you met her before?"._

 _Allie shook her head, "No", she replied simply, "But Santa showed me a photo in the newspaper and she is really really pretty". "She has curly hair like mine and she has a really cool badge on her hip too", she said in amazement._

 _Lauren Shepard smiled at the little girl and kissed the top of her head in a loving manner before putting her down on the dirt floor, "Where is it that you…", she paused, not finishing her question as the little girl made her way over to a rectangular hole in the ground. "Please… please tell me that you don't sleep in that….", she asked in shock as the little girl approached it, she paused for a moment however, stopping herself from saying the word 'grave' and switching it out as she continued, "...hole"._

" _Of course I do", Alessandra responded as if it were normal, although truth be told it had become normal for her over the past week, "I have a blanket in here too, see?"._

 _Lauren knelt down by the side of the hole and bit her lip, trying not to cry, "That… that looks like a very… a very nice blanket, Alessandra", she said with a false smile despite her eyes being filled with sadness for the young child._

 _Alessandra clambered into the hole a little awkwardly and neatened her blanket a little, "Are you coming to bed?", the little girl asked her, "Come and see my drawings"._

 _The thirty something year old woman climbed into the grave that had been dug in the dirt floor of the basement and she sat beside the little girl, she smiled at the picture that had been drawn at the foot of the bed. It showed a family; a mother, a father, two girls and two boys. "Who are they?", she asked Alessandra with a soft smile._

" _That's Mammina", she said pointing at the tallest of the female stick figures, "And that is my Papa". She then went on to indicate each of her three siblings as she pointed to the correct figure, pointing out thirteen year old Christian, eleven year old Tyler and eight year old Kelly before pointing to herself - which was the smallest of all of the stick figures, whereas her 'Papa' was the tallest of them all._

 _The parents were drawn in the centre with Alessandra next to her mother and Kelly beside her whilst the two boys were beside their father. Surrounding the figures that had been drawn in the soil were various sized hearts. At the top of the drawing was her name 'Alessandra Mai Harmon' written in her own handwriting and etched with a small stick that was lying on the floor near the drawing._

" _That is very good Alessandra", the woman praised her with a smile and a hug._

" _Would you like to put your name on the wall too?", the little girl asked._

 _Lauren looked at the wall, 'If something goes wrong and I don't get out of here… this might be the only evidence left that I was here', she thought to herself before nodding, "Of course", she replied, not telling the little girl her true thoughts on the matter as she did not wish to scare or worry the child any more than she already was._

 _Alessandra picked up the small stick and passed it to the woman._

 _Carefully, Lauren etched her name into the dirt 'wall' of the 'bed'. It simply read 'Lauren Shepard', and she had written it neatly on the side 'wall' nearby the drawing rather on the same 'wall' as Alessandra's family drawing was._

 _The little girl smiled, "Lauren Shepard", she read out loud, running her finger gently along the bottom of the woman's name, "Does that mean you have sheep?"._

 _Lauren found herself laughing a little at the innocent question that the little girl had asked her before she shook her head, "No I don't… it's not that kind of shepherd, you see it's not spelled the same way as a shepherd that has sheep"._

 _Alessandra looked at the name, "Oh… I thought you'd just forgotten how to spell it", the little girl admitted._

 _This of course made the woman laugh again._

" _We better go to sleep, Santa will get really mad if we don't go to sleep soon", she whispered softly as she picked up the blanket and began to lay down on the floor of the grave-like hole in the ground._

 _Lauren stopped laughing instantly and bit her lip as she nodded, "Okay", she whispered in return as she hesitantly lay down beside the little girl and pulled her close to her._

 _Alessandra snuggled into the side of the woman and curled up a little._

 _Ms Shepard covered the little girl with the blanket and held her securely against her as she found herself staring at the ceiling._

 _Little did Allie know, Lauren did not sleep much that night but instead kept herself awake to watch over the little girl, only drifting off to sleep for minutes at a time with extended time periods in between doses of light slumber._

"Is everything okay Allie?", Maura asked gently as she ducked her head to try and make eye contact with the little girl as she continued to stare at the image.

Alessandra looked up at her before she nodded, "She slept in the bed with me in the basement", the little one revealed.

Jane frowned slightly, there were no reports of a bed… unless she meant the… _grave_.

"She didn't like my bed too much though because she called it a 'hole' instead of a bed", Little Allie said softly.

The three women in the room listened attentively but did not interrupt the little girl.

"I showed her the drawings that I made at the bottom of my bed", she said proudly, "I drew Mammina, Papa, Christian, Tyler and Kelly too". "I let her write her name on the wall as well, just like I had done", Alessandra said softly as she looked down at the photo that remained in her lap, "Lauren Shepard". "I liked her writing", the little one said with a smile, "It was curly, but not as curly as Mammina's writing though".

"What else did she do?", Doctor Kingston asked softly from her position at the table. She had seen the photos of the names on the wall - had it been the little girl's intentions to track who had been there?

"She gave really nice hugs", the little girl said with a smile, "Really long ones too… that lasted _all_ night long".

"Wow, now that is cool", Melody said with a smile, the woman seemed to be very good with the little girl, understanding what was important to the young child and emphasising the positives so that the negatives would not overwhelm her.

" _You can't catch me!", the little girl yelled as she ran around in the backyard._

 _Lauren chased her around, pretending not to be able to catch her but when the little girl began to get out of breath she scooped her up into her arms and hugged her tightly. The woman was unaware of the health problems of the little girl and the poor condition her lungs were in from past infections and the effects of the damp basement where she had now been for approximately a month._

" _Get over here now!", Hoyt yelled from the other side of the yard, near the cabin that resembled a shack._

 _The woman moved hastily towards the man with the little girl still on her hip, unclear if she was supposed to put her down or not._

" _Put her down", Charles Hoyt demanded, "She can walk…. She has legs"._

 _Lauren nodded but hesitated as she gently placed the child on the floor before pressing a kiss to her had and keeping a grip on the little one's hand._

" _Alessandra", he said firmly, "You better say goodbye to Lauren and then go to bed"._

 _The little girl looked confused, "Where is Lauren going, Santa?"._

" _She...she has to go home now", the man said in a sadistic manner that hinted that 'home' was not in reality what it was supposed to be._

 _Lauren visibly gulped as she looked into the cruel eyes of the man who had held her hostage for the past few weeks. She knew that she was_ _not_ _going home. She knew in that moment that it was the end. There was no escape for her. She looked down into the bright blue eyes of the little girl who stood beside her, the little girl who had slept in her arms every night for three weeks and she put on a smile because she did not want to scare or worry her. Lauren however was terrified, she was more afraid for Little Alessandra than she was for herself. What would happen to the little girl now?_

" _You're leaving me?", the little girl questioned with tear filled eyes as she looked up at the dark haired woman._

 _Lauren bit her lip, she knew that the little girl did not understand that she was not leaving her alone by choice and that she would not comprehend the concept unless she was to find out what was really going on. She could not however let that happen so instead she put on a mask and knelt down beside her._

 _Alessandra threw herself into Lauren's arms instantly, her arms wrapping around her neck and she had tears streaming down her face as she had come to be rather fond of the woman. The woman was the only positive thing there, she was the only one that cared and the only one that looked after her. She kept her warm at night, she held her close and she played with her in the yard._

 _Lauren embraced the child and rocked her gently, "I'm sorry Alessandra", the woman said softly, "I have to go home". She could not think of a reason as to why she had to leave the child, other than that._

 _Allie sniffled a little as she clung to the woman._

" _You be a really good girl for me, okay?", Lauren said softly as she pulled back in order to look at the little girl's face. The look of sadness on her face was making it very hard on the woman._

 _Alessandra nodded in response but did not say a single word._

" _You promise?", the woman asked softly._

" _I promise", the little one said as she rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands to get rid of the salty liquid that had escaped from them._

" _Hurry up!", the cruel man demanded in an angry and frustrated tone of voice._

 _Lauren leaned forward slightly to press a loving kiss to the little girl's head, "I love you Alessandra"._

" _I love you too", the little girl mumbled into the woman's hair as she held her close._

" _Get in!", Hoyt shouted at the little girl, "Take this with you, make sure you drink it all". He had handed her a bottle of water to drink, she knew not to argue as she had gotten into trouble for not drinking it previously - she knew that it would make her sleep, she had already worked that out within the first week when it was a daily occurrence and yet she still drunk it because she knew that she would be in much more trouble if she refused._

" _Bye Lauren", Alessandra whispered sadly as she stepped back and made her way towards the house. She kept looking back towards the woman._

" _Go to bed Alessandra!", the serial killer yelled at the four year old Red Sox fan._

 _Alessandra nodded and made her way towards her 'bed' in a much quicker fashion than what she had been. It was still daylight outside, the sun had not begun to set yet but the little one did not argue as it was not the first time that she had been sent to bed with the sun still high in the sky._

Maura reached out and brushed a tear from the little girl's cheek, "Hey", she said softly, putting her arms out to take the child into her own arms, "Why are you crying Allie?".

The little girl looked at her confused, she had not realised that she had been crying at all.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner held her close and rocked her.

"I wanted her to stay", the little one whispered.

Melody stepped in, taking over from Maura, "You wanted who to stay Alessandra?", she knew that it was most likely the murder victim; Lauren Shepard, but she needed the child to say it otherwise it was seen as 'coaching the witness' and would have to be dismissed from the case.

"Lauren", Alessandra whispered quietly.

"Where did she go?", Doctor Kingston asked gently, wanting to know _how_ much the child knew.

Alessandra sniffled, "She had to go home", the little girl said softly, not realising that it was a lie that she had been told by Hoyt.

 _It was a month after the little girl had been taken. It was a month after the majority of the Harmon family had been brutally murdered in their home on Christmas Eve - a day that was supposed to be filled with happiness had turned into something contained within the darkest of nightmares._

 _Maura was knelt down on the grass embankment, balancing in her heels as she looked at the body that lay exposed to the elements._

 _It was a beautiful looking woman in her mid-thirties with dark hair and hazel eyes. The woman was wearing an Emerald wrap dress which was covered in dirt and it was torn in multiple places. The dress had clearly been ripped open as the tie that had been around the waist was torn and frayed._

 _The Medical Examiner noted the bruising that was showing on the woman's upper arms and legs where it appeared that she had been forcibly grabbed as the outlines of hand prints were unmistakable. She also noted the presence of blood on her thighs and the split in her lip._

 _Jane was stood near Maura, her eyes were not focused on the body in that moment however, as they were instead looking at the other side of the street. She was looking at the place where the truck that had been used in Alessandra's kidnapping had been abandoned. They were on the same stretch of highway and still no closer to finding the little girl._

 _Maura looked up at the other woman and bit her lip gently before returning her attention to the body, she was hoping that they would find something, anything that would help them not only get justice for the woman but also find Alessandra._

 _Lauren Shepard. Missing for three weeks. Reported missing by her sister; Abigail Young, who she was supposed to be meeting at the mall on the day that she went missing but she never arrived. In reality she had never left her home. Abigail had text her a couple of times the previous day but had no answer, the woman was known for not answering her phone and so she did not worry - instead she went to the mall and waited for her._

"How about we call it a day?", Doctor Kingston offered them.

Maura nodded, cradling Alessandra in her arms, holding her tightly against her chest and trying to calm the distressed child, "That sounds like a good idea", she said simply without looking up.

Jo moved to Alessandra and began licking at her face.

The little girl sniffled and then pulled Jo closer, the dog was being awkwardly clutched against the little girl and partially sandwiched between Maura and the child.

Jo however did not care.

Alessandra began to calm down as she stroked Jo Friday's fur and gradually she began to fall asleep in the woman's arms. Her eyes were pink from tears and she was exhausted.

Jane stood up before taking the little girl from Maura's arms, the little girl stirred and opened her eyes to check her surroundings.

Maura stood up carefully but she did not have much time before the little girl reached over to her, attempting to get back into her arms again. The Medical Examiner smiled, she was happy that the little girl was wanting to go to her.

Detective Rizzoli smiled and passed the child over to her girlfriend before picking up Maura's bag and then going to grab Jo's leash.

Doctor Isles held the little girl close to her, she was swaying from side to side without fully noticing what she was doing - Doctor Kingston however did notice the calming, nurturing motion.

Slowly, the little girl fell back into a light sleep in the arms of her foster mother.

 **A/N: I apologise for the extreme delay in updating this story - my brain has simply not been working… well not literally of course! Hopefully this long chapter makes up for it, this is now the longest chapter as it is even longer than the previous one. I was hoping to cover 2-3 of the victims in this but only managed one… whoops?**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review. I'm not dismissing Jo but it is a fact that she cannot do damage above (approximately) the knee unless you bend down so it would not be as severe as if it were a large dog. However the comment was simply due to the good temperament of the dog.**

 **Vbbneighbor - Thank you again for your review. The superhero conversation was an addition; it was very much unplanned. I started writing a 'brief' bit before starting the next day but it simply took on a life of its own! I am glad that you liked it though. At the moment, there is no threat posed to the little girl which is why Jo was allowed to go, especially added to the dog's good behaviour. Well marriage will happen one day ; ) .**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review, I am glad that you liked it and I hope you like this update too. Apologies for the delay in updating.**

 **TamTam86 - Thank you so much for your review. Your review reminded me that I needed to update the story (although it still took a while for my fuzzy mind to catch up and actually start typing!), so thank you for that. I agree with you, she was definitely made to be a mother! I love the outfits too! Especially the one worn in this chapter and the last - the brown dress is so freaking adorable and reminds me of a gingerbread wo/man (in a cute and adorable way of course). I am so glad that you have enjoyed the story so far and hope that you continue to do so. So sorry for the long wait!**


	36. Friday, January 6th - Part III

Jane had given the last of the chocolate to Frost and Korsak - just like the little one had wanted to do before she fell asleep on Maura. They took the little girl back to the bullpen before carefully putting the girl's coat and hat on her; Alessandra did wake up but only for a little while as she fell asleep again in the car on the way home to Beacon Hill.

The sleeping child was placed carefully on the bed in Maura's room by Jane who then pressed a loving and gentle kiss to the little one's head, "I love you Allie", the dark haired woman whispered quietly to her with a soft smile.

Alessandra simply mumbled a little before she snuggled down beneath the soft blanket that Jane had lovingly placed over her in order to keep her warm.

When Jane entered the kitchen she found Maura standing at the kitchen counter preparing the dinner.

She was pulling out the ingredients that she would need to cook dinner, although the majority of the cooking was done for her as Angela had already done the majority. She pulled the items out of the fridge and cupboards which included; gnocchi which she just needed to reheat, items for a salad and the items needed to make her own garlic bread.

Jane quietly approached Maura from behind before wrapping her arms around the woman's waist slowly.

Maura smiled, she had heard the other woman approaching her and when Jane's arms slipped around her waist, she leaned back into them with a soft sigh before turning her head enough that she could kiss her girlfriend.

Detective Rizzoli smiled happily as she held Maura close, kissing her lovingly. A kiss that became much deeper and much more passionate when Maura turned in Jane's arms

The honey blonde woman pulled back slightly in order for them to breathe, both women were breathing heavily with their foreheads pressed against each other's.

Upon the moment that Jane looked into Maura's eyes, the passion overflowed and Maura found herself being lifted up onto the work surface of the kitchen island.

Their lips returned to their battle along with their tongues and Jane's hands grabbed hold of Maura's ass with a firm but gentle grip as she pulled her closer to her and nearer to the edge of the countertop.

Jane's scarred hands ran down Maura's soft body in order to slip beneath her sapphire silk designer blouse before gliding upwards to cup her bra encased breasts.

Maura's back arched slightly as she moaned into the kiss at the feel of her girlfriends hands on her which had then slipped beneath the bra to touch her skin without the unnecessary barrier of material.

It didn't take long after that for Jane to maneuver her hands in order to remove the blouse from the warm body of her girlfriend and to toss it to the side, ensuring that it was on the counter rather than the floor.

Maura pulled Jane in again in order capture her lips in another passionate kiss, "I love you", she whispered in almost a gasp as she pulled back ever so slightly to look into the other woman's dark eyes.

"I love you too Maur', so… so much", Jane whispered in a similar fashion before kissing her in a slow, deep kiss.

Jane pushed the material of Maura's black skirt up as far as she could physically maneuver it towards her waist. She managed to get it up as high as the woman's upper thighs before it was impossible to move it further, but that did not bother her at all.

"Are… are you sure we should…", Maura panted in a quiet voice, "do this… with… with Allie in the other room?".

Her question was reasonable, they had not had sex since the night they found Allie and since the first nightmare, the little girl had been in with them which made it impossible. Jane was reluctant to leave the little girl alone for too long and Allie clearly was not ready to be cared for by anyone else which meant no babysitters were permitted at such an early stage.

Jane nodded, "She's asleep Maur', Jo's in there with her so they should both sleep for a while", she said softly to reassure her lover, "It just means that you have to at least _try_ to be quiet".

Maura smiled and simply pulled the Detective into another passionate kiss, it was her way of silently telling the Italian woman that she wanted to continue with what they were doing together in the kitchen.

Jane stepped back ever so slightly in order to give herself room before she could dance her fingers softly up her girlfriend's moisturised legs before they arrived at their destination. Briefly, the woman pressed her thumb against Maura's clitoris, making the honey blonde woman throw her head back with a gasp and a slight buck of her skirt encased hips towards her lover.

 **Meanwhile in another part of the house, Alessandra was sleeping peacefully on Maura's bed with a soft blanket covering her and Jo Friday snuggled up to her. The little girl had her arms wrapped around the canine as Bass quietly made his way into the 'shelter' of the bedroom.**

Slender fingers edged themselves beneath the soft material of Maura Isles' expensive undergarments before the designer thong was pulled swiftly from her body and thrown carelessly to the floor. She did not take as much care with the underwear as she had done the blouse because she knew that there was no threat of wrinkling the material and she knew how much her lover hated wrinkled clothing.

Maura's arms were around Jane's neck as she kissed her deeply and her legs were wrapped around the woman's waist with only enough space between them for Jane's fingers to tease the woman's centre slowly.

Jane Rizzoli's lips began to slowly descend from Maura's lips to her jaw before arriving at the woman's neck where she gently kissed and sucked at the pale skin that she found there.

The woman who was sat on the kitchen island in the middle of the kitchen had her head thrown back in pleasure, her hips were bucking ever so slightly and her breathing was abnormal.

She had been left wearing only her black lace, front-clasp bra and her bunched up black skirt. Her shoes had already been slipped off as soon as she entered the house as she did not want to wake the little girl with the sound of her heels clicking and clacking as she walked around in the kitchen to prepare the dinner for the three of them.

Jane could not believe how lucky she was; to be able to be with the woman that she had dreamed of for so long, the woman that she had lay beside in bed wondering what it would be like to kiss her lips and to make love to her, the woman who drove her crazy but in a good way, the woman who captivated her from the start and the woman who stole her heart in an instant. The woman was unaware that it was precisely how her lover was also feeling.

Both had been in love with each other for so long… but neither had told the other, that was until approximately a year ago. That year was both the best and worst that they had endured so far. The next year however was looking to be much better, not just for the two of them but also for little Alessandra Mai Harmon.

 _It was Christmas Day in Boston, Massachusetts and the snow had fallen down causing the street to be coated in a white blanket which hid the grass, bushes, flowers and roads. There were no footprints in the snow or even tracks from any vehicles visible in the pure white snow covering Beacon Hill. The lights were off in the majority of the homes that lined the street and the very few that were on were the ones with little children who had awoken early to see if Santa Claus had visited them the previous night. It was quiet outside and the snow had stopped falling, at least for now it had._

 _Inside a darkened house, in a dark bedroom was a honey blonde woman wearing a silk short pyjama set and sleeping peacefully with her head on another woman's chest. It was however not just any other woman but in fact it was her best friend; Detective Jane Rizzoli. The woman had yet again stayed the night at Maura's and was now in her bed and holding her close. Doctor Maura Isles lay peacefully in the other woman's arms, her head on her chest, one leg over one of Jane's and her hand was holding onto Jane's. Their linked hands were in front of Maura's face and resided upon Jane's chest which was gently rising and falling in rhythm with her calm breathing. Jane wore a pair of shorts with a tank top and her hair was flowing around her head as if it were a halo that surrounded her peaceful looking face, her arm was wrapped around the slender waist of the Medical Examiner in her arms and it held her securely in a protective motion._

 _A slither of light was beginning to enter the room through the tiniest gap in the curtain when the honey blonde woman began to awake from her slumber on Christmas morning and as her eyes opened slightly she noticed that she was again in a position that she often found herself in when she awoke at the side of her best friend. Maura Isles couldn't help but smile where she lay, her heart fluttered and she was clearly happy to wake up in Jane's arms with the feeling of being protected by the Detective. She instinctively squeezed the hand that held hers and looked up towards the woman's face._

 _Jane tugged the woman even closer to her as she awoke from her deep sleep and had moved so that both of her arms wrapped around the smaller woman in her arms. Maura simply grinned as the woman moved in her bed and took her into her arms fully, "Good Morning Jane", she said softly as she looked up towards the closed eyes in front of her._

 _"Morning Maur'", Detective Jane Rizzoli mumbled as she briefly tightened her arms around Maura as a greeting. Suddenly Jane opened one eye and then a grin spread over her face, "Merry Christmas Maura", she said softly looking towards the woman laying safely in her arms._

 _Maura's hand slid up to cup Jane's cheek gently as she smiled brightly, "Merry Christmas Jane", she said softly to the curly haired Italian woman._

 _Their lips gravitated towards each others gradually, they were finally going to get the kiss that the both of them had wanted for so long. That was until their phones began to ring._

A singular finger slid into the depths of the honey blonde woman, sliding in on the wetness that her body had produced, Maura's jaw dropped into an 'O' shape and her eyes closed as she threw her head back; she was struggling to stay quiet.

Jane smirked against the woman's skin as she continued to lavish her attention on the woman's neck using only her lips. One hand was now against the woman's nude back whilst the other was hidden beneath the tight material of Maura's skirt.

One of Maura's hands were planted firmly on the work surface as she struggled to hold herself up in a seated position with her legs dangling down on either side of the stunningly beautiful Detective. The other of her hands was laced within the dark curls of Jane's hair, holding her closely to her despite the fact that she knew that Jane had no intention of moving anywhere else as she seemed rather happy dedicating her lips to Maura's flawless neck.

The struggle to stay quiet was getting increasingly harder and harder for the honey blonde Medical Examiner. Especially when Jane added another finger and increased the depth and force of her thrusts.

Maura Isles' head continued to be thrown back as she gasped and moaned Jane's name as if it were a prayer to the sky.

Jane ensured that with each thrust of her fingers within her lover, her thumb was putting pressure on the woman's clitoris to increase her pleasure despite knowing that the woman would not be able to keep quiet for long. Jane took pride in the fact that she could make the usually rather composed woman, scream and thrash around in the throes of passion.

 _Maura's back arched, her hands gripped the Egyptian cotton sheets, a sheen of sweat covered her naked skin and, she screamed out Jane's name loudly and in an elongated manner._

 _Jane smirked against Maura's centre before returning to her rather enjoyable 'job' of pleasuring the woman with her tongue._

 _The moment that Jane heard Maura's moans, she would double her efforts and, cause the honey blonde to continue cumming as well as to cum harder and harder each time. Not that Maura complained of course._

When Jane thrust a third finger into her lover and increased her efforts to make the woman cum on the kitchen counter, she used her spare hand to pull Maura's head closer to her so that she could kiss her.

The passionate kiss was used to swallow Maura's moans with the hopes of not awaking the little girl in the other room as the Medical Examiner came undone beneath the powers of the Detective's 'magical' fingers.

Maura's hips continued to buck slightly against her lover's hand as Jane gradually brought her down from her high.

"I love you Maura", Jane said softly before pressing a softer, more gentle and much more brief kiss to her lover's soft lips.

The love shone brightly within her hazel eyes as she looked at her lover, "I love you too Jane", she said gently, "I love you so much". A smile spread across Maura's face as she leaned in for another kiss, and another, and another.

Wet fingers slipped from their temporary home and without taking her eyes off of her girlfriend's face, she lifted her dominant hand to her lips and cleaned her fingers with her tongue before pulling them into her mouth. She made a show of doing it which had Maura biting her lip as she watched what the Italian woman was doing. "Mmmm…", Jane hummed as she cleaned her fingers, "...so good", she said before recapturing the other woman's lips in a slow and deep kiss as each of them tried to show the other how much they loved them.

"I should get dressed", Maura said softly as she leaned into Jane, her head on her shoulder, forehead against her neck and arms around her waist.

Jane sighed softly, her arms were wrapped around the woman as she held her close and she leaned her cheek against Maura's head, "I wish you didn't have to".

Maura chuckled at her girlfriend's comment, "Am I supposed to stay like this all of the time?", she asked jokingly.

"No, of course not", Jane replied, "I was thinking of you… without the skirt and the bra".

The clarification made Maura roll her eyes and laugh again, "So, I'm supposed to be _naked_ all of the time?".

Jane smirked as her girlfriend lifted her head to look at her, "Well it sure would have its benefits".

"Do you _really_ want _Allie_ to find me like _this_?", the woman asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked at the dark haired woman.

The look on Jane's face said it all before she even spoke, "On second thought, maybe you _should_ get dressed", she said changing her mind, "But when it's just us? Naked".

Maura smirked and nodded, "That sounds good to me", she said simply as she pushed Jane back slightly so that she could jump down from the counter. The Medical Examiner carefully readjusted her skirt before putting her blouse back on - she was rather glad that Jane had had the awareness to put the clothing item on the work surface rather than to throw it onto the floor.

When Maura turned around to look for her thong that she knew Jane had thrown on the floor in a random direction, she was met with the sight of her girlfriend stuffing the thong into her pocket. She rolled her eyes lightly at Jane's antics, "I'm not getting those back am I?".

"Maybe later", Jane replied with a slight smirk wanting to see what her lover would do.

Maura shook her head, "Fine", she said simply, "Can you put the oven on so we can reheat the Gnocchi and make a start on the garlic bread? I'm going to go and get cleaned up then check on Allie".

Jane smiled and nodded, "Of course", she said softly before tugging Maura close to her again and kissing her lovingly, "What did I do to get so lucky?".

Maura looked a little confused and tilted her head, "Lucky to be reheating Gnocchi and making garlic bread?", she questioned.

She laughed softly and shook her head, "No Maur', lucky to have you in my life to love", she replied.

Her hazel eyes watered a little as she reached up to kiss Jane again, "I think I'm the lucky one", she responded with a smile before she turned to go and check on their foster child.

Jane turned the dial on the oven to ensure that it was at the right temperature before she began to make the garlic bread. Slicing the baguette and decorating it with a garlic butter mix before placing it on the tray.

Whilst Jane was starting to cook the dinner, Maura was cleaning herself up in the bathroom and replacing the underwear that Jane had temporarily stolen. It was not the first time that the woman had done it.

 _Maura was lying back on her desk with the items that had previously been residing on her desk now on the floor, her chest was rapidly moving up and down as she struggled to catch her breath, and her yellow dress was bunched up around her waist revealing her naked lower half to her lover._

 _Jane got up from the floor where she had been kneeling before she leaned over and placed a passionate but loving kiss upon the Medical Examiner's lips whilst in the woman's office. They were both rather glad that the office had blinds along with a lock on the door but even more so that the majority of the lab were out to lunch._

 _The honey blonde Medical Examiner began to stand up on her slightly unstable legs before tugging down her designer dress._

 _Slender fingers picked up the white thong from the floor and stuffed the small piece of material into her blazer pocket with a smirk on her face._

" _I'm not getting those back am I?", Maura asked with a shake of her head._

 _Jane smirked, "Nope", she said with a slight pop on the 'p' of the word._

 _She could have probably just pulled the underwear out from her bottom drawer where she kept a spare set of clothes for emergencies but instead she opted not to. That of course was something that Jane appreciated later on in the day when they mysteriously vanished to the bathroom._

Once Doctor Maura Isles had cleaned herself up and made herself to be what she deemed as presentable, she stepped into the bedroom to find Alessandra sitting up in the bed.

Alessandra Mai was sat up on the bed with the blanket covering her legs and Jo asleep beside her. The little girl was rubbing her eyes tiredly in a childish fashion and yawning. She glanced around and as soon as she settled her eyes on the honey blonde woman who was standing in the doorway, her face broke out into a huge smile, "Maura!", she exclaimed trying to escape from the confinement of the blankets.

Maura moved forward as she witnessed the excitement of the little girl, it made her heart swell metaphorically at the sight of such excitement being shown at her mere presence. The woman sat down beside the little girl and helped her to get free from the blankets that had become partially wrapped around her thin legs.

As soon as she was freed from the material, the blue eyed girl threw herself into Maura's arms quite happily.

She had appeared a little nervous upon first waking alone in the bedroom but she was now rather happy as she sat straddling Maura's lap and leaning into her in the same way that she had been doing earlier that day with Jane.

Maura wrapped her arms securely around the little girl and held her closely to her chest, she leaned her head down to rest it onto the top of Alessandra's dark curls, "Did you sleep well?", she asked softly.

Alessandra nodded but she remained silent, she was happily absorbing the feeling of being safe and loved in the woman's arms.

"I love you Allie", Maura whispered softly.

The little girl snuggled even more into her, "I love you too", she whispered very quietly in a barely audible voice.

It did not seem to matter to her that the actions of the little girl clinging to her shirt in such a way would wrinkle the material. She was simply enjoying holding her daughter close to her. Maura found herself hoping that the adoption would be finalised soon, she wanted to be able to officially call Alessandra their daughter.

She was however slightly worried as to what the little girl would want her name to be. Ideally she wanted them all to be 'Rizzoli-Isles' or at least 'Rizzoli', the concept of remaining as simply 'Isles' did not even cross her mind but she wondered what the little girl would want. Would Allie want to change her name? Would she even understand? Would Alessandra want to take on their name? Or would she remain a 'Harmon'? Or would she combine them? Rizzoli? Isles? Rizzoli-Isles? Harmon? Rizzoli-Harmon? Harmon-Rizzoli? Surely Harmon-Rizzoli-Isles would be too long? Right?

One of the main worries she had though was what would they say to her when it was finalised? Would she still think that she was going back to her parents? Or would she accept the fact that herself and Jane were now her parents and would always be?

Maura Isles continued to hold the little girl close to her as Allie listened to her heartbeat.

Alessandra sat up gradually and sniffed the air slightly, "Gnocchi?", the little one queried with a tilt of her head.

The woman smiled and nodded in amusement, "Yes, we're having Gnocchi for dinner", she said softly, "Angela cooked it for us so Jane is reheating it".

The little one's bright blue eyes shone with excitement at the meal, clearly she was a fan.

"How about we go and find Jane?", she asked with a smile as she stood up before the little girl could reply.

"Superhero", she replied excitedly in Maura's arms as the woman transferred her to her hip.

Maura smiled happily and nodded, "Yes", she said softly, "Our superhero". _Our brave, beautiful superhero… God I love that woman_ , she thought to herself as she carried the little girl down the hallway and towards the kitchen.

"Jane!", the curly haired child screeched as she saw Jane standing in the kitchen preparing the salad.

Jane spun around with a huge smile on her face and made her way straight over to the both of them, "Hey there Tesoro", she said softly as the little girl threw herself into her arms as soon as she was close enough.

Alessandra clung to the woman, wrapping her arms and legs around her tightly.

"Someone woke up in a good mood", Jane commented with a bright smile as she leaned over to kiss Maura softly.

"Gnocchi", the little girl replied.

"Ah… so that's why you're in such a good mood?", Jane questioned with a smirk, "You could smell food".

Maura shook her head, "No, she was already in a good mood before she realised what you were cooking", she said softly, "I got a rather enthusiastic greeting when I came out of the bathroom". She pushed a stray strand of hair back behind Alessandra's ear before continuing, "When I came out, she was sat on the bed looking quite sleepy and then when she saw me she tried to get to me as quickly as she could, calling out excitedly but she was slightly trapped, weren't you Allie?".

Alessandra nodded, "The blankets tried to eat me", she replied as if it were rather serious.

Jane's jaw dropped, "They did, huh?", she replied, seeming to take her statement very seriously, just as serious as the little girl did - if not more.

Allie nodded, "Uh huh", she replied simply.

"Hmm… well we can't have that can we?", Jane said softly.

The little girl shook her head making her curls bounce a little.

"I'll have to fix that blanket monster for you", Jane said with a determined look on her face.

Maura smiled in amusement, "Well when I managed to rescue her from the 'blanket monster', she threw herself into my arms and gave me some amazing hugs before we came in here to find you".

Jane smiled, "That right Tesoro?", the woman said as she stroked her cheek.

Alessandra Mai nodded, "Uh huh, I wanted some Magic Maura hugs", she said softly as she leaned into her foster mother.

"They are pretty good aren't they?", Jane asked as she rocked the child slightly without fully being aware of her actions.

Little Allie Mai nodded, "Magic".

"Magic", Jane confirmed with her eyes on Maura.

Maura's hazel eyes watered as she listened to what the little one was saying and Jane tugged the woman into the embrace to hold her close.

Detective Rizzoli pressed a kiss to Maura's head before pressing one to Alessandra's too, "My two beautiful girls", she whispered, "I must be the luckiest woman in the world".

 **A/N: So… how much did I fail at that love scene? I have not attempted writing that in so freaking long… but it was requested early on and I did say that it would eventually be included.**

 **Yay! I hit 200 reviews (well now 201) and I have also hit an average of 4,000 words per chapter too. I am rather shocked to see that the story has apparently had almost 47,000 (yes THOUSAND) views… like erm WOW?**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review - I am so glad that you thought it to be worth the wait. I hopefully will not leave such a huge gap again but with university, it is a distinct possibility that it will - unfortunately.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review.**

 **Vbbneigbour - Thank you for your review. I am glad that you thought it was worth the wait! I was really hoping to cover more than one but I think I was a little too ambitious with that… I just kept writing and knew that I needed the detail in there for it to make sense. I will most likely do the same for the majority of the victims - their chapters will be longer than normal as they will go into the details of what happened with flashbacks. I thought that bringing Jo into it would make it a little lighter - not sure it worked though :/**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you so much for your review! I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far (and I hope that you continue to do so). My original intention was to do 2-3 victims per chapter but I have come to realise that it just is not possible because it would be unrealistic - Alessandra would not be able to cope with such intense interviews and they would not be able to get the information that they want/need from her. It would also mean cutting out the flashbacks but I think they are possibly the most important aspects of the interview chapters.**


	37. Saturday, January 7th

It was Saturday morning so there were no interviews planned for the little girl that day and there would not be another until Monday which meant that Jane and Maura could spend the entire day with Alessandra without being interrupted with stressful questions aimed at the little girl. It was a day where they could relax together and spend some quality time together without visits to the station.

The sun began to shine in through the small gap in the thick curtains that covered the perfectly cleaned windows. The light shone onto the bed linen and onto Jane's face making her scrunch up her facial features and hide her face from the inconvenient brightness.

Jane was lying on her back with Maura beside her. The honey blonde Medical Examiner had her head hidden against her girlfriend's neck, her eyes were closed peacefully in a state of slumber. The Italian woman's left arm was wrapped around Maura in a way that ensured that she was held closely against her, whilst her right arm was holding onto the little girl who was sleeping in with them.

Alessandra had started the night curled up between them but after a nightmare, the little girl was now spread across Jane's body with her head on the woman's chest as she listened to the calming beat of the woman's heart. The little girl's left hand was gripping the material of her foster mother's pyjama shirt whilst her right hand was securely held within Maura's hand.

The warm blankets were pulled up high, so high that they reached the little girl's neck and curved up to reach the same point on Maura too.

Detective Rizzoli groaned with annoyance at being pulled from her sleep by the sunlight and after a moment she turned towards the alarm clock that resided on the bedside table. The numbers signalled that it was already 09:56, Jane turned towards Maura and was surprised that the woman was still asleep although the little one had woken them in the early hours of the morning which could be to blame for the woman oversleeping.

Maura must have felt the movement of the woman beside her as she gradually opened her eyes to look up at her beautiful girlfriend.

"Good Morning", Jane whispered softly when her eyes met the ones of her lover.

Doctor Isles smiled brightly, "Good Morning", she said softly as she leaned up a little to press a gentle kiss to Jane's lips, "I love you". Her words were genuine, her voice was caring and her facial expressions showed truthful affection towards the dark haired woman that was lying beside her.

Those three words never got old, she loved hearing them each and every time that Maura spoke them - even before they were together, she would close her eyes at night and play the woman's words back to herself whilst imagining that she meant it in a more romantic manner rather than what it was. Jane was unaware at the time however that Maura did mean it in the way that she wanted it to be - she did not mean it in a platonic manner at all. Maura was in love with her. It was not the love of a simple friend. It was not the love of a family member. It was the love of a soul mate. It was the love of a lover. They had both spent so long loving each other from afar without telling the other - it was unnecessary torture.

"I love you too", Jane said with a bright smile, she wanted to cup the woman's cheek but found she could not do it as she did not have a free hand to do so - instead she opted to tug the smaller woman closer to her with the arm that was wrapped around her, "So so much". She stretched her neck slightly in order to kiss Maura lovingly.

Maura Isles leaned up so that she could kiss Jane back, increasing the depth and the passion within the kiss. The honey blonde woman was leaning up on her elbow so that she could reach her lover whilst keeping her gentle grip on little Alessandra's warm hand. The love shone brightly in her eyes, even brighter than the sun that shone through the curtain gap.

The little girl mumbled, yawned and wriggled a little as she began to wake up from her broken sleep.

Doctor Isles looked down at the little one just as her eyes fluttered opened and soon she found herself looking into a set of bright blue eyes, "Good Morning", she said softly towards the sleepy looking child.

Alessandra smiled brightly but did not say a single word and instead she wriggled so that she could look up at Jane too.

Jane grinned at the little one, wrapping her arm around her tighter than it had been before, "Good Morning Tesoro", she said lovingly as she pressed a kiss to the little one's forehead.

Little Allie was silent, not many words slipped from her lips when she was tired and the two women were gradually learning about the little one's behaviour although they did wonder if she did the same things before her kidnapping over a year previously or if it were an effect of the trauma that she had suffered throughout her time in captivity.

"Would you like to go downstairs for breakfast?", Maura asked softly.

The little girl shook her head to say no as she snuggled further down beneath the soft blankets and into the dark haired woman that she was currently lying on top of. It was clear that she was comfortable in her current position.

"We can have pancakes", Jane suggested with a smile, "Freshly made… fluffy pancakes with fruit".

Alessandra Mai looked tempted by that but she did not move from her position.

"How about we lay here for a little bit longer and then we get up and have pancakes for breakfast", Jane suggested softly, "You can have strawberries too, my little turtle".

The curly haired child giggled at the word 'turtle'.

"Then", Jane continued, "How about we go out to the park and you can play in the playground before we have feed the ducks there later?".

The blue eyed little girl looked very hesitant and did not reply at all.

Maura lifted Alessandra's hand to her lips and pressed a very gentle but loving kiss to the soft skin on the back of the little one's hand, "Do you like the park?", Maura asked with a minor tilt to her head.

Alessandra thought about the question for a moment before nodding slowly.

"What do you like at the park?", Doctor Isles asked as she watched the child's reactions closely.

Allie bit her lip ever so slightly as she contemplated the question that her foster mother had posed to her.

 _Alessandra Mai was wrapped up warmly with a Red Sox hat and scarf along with a thick coat and fluffy boots. The little one was sat on a swing with her mother pushing her._

 _Michelle was wearing a pair of brown leather boots, dark blue jeans, a brown jacket and matching white hat, scarf and gloves. She was happily pushing her youngest daughter on the swing in the park._

 _The park was not that far from their home and it was very cold out. The sun was shining down but there was a lot of snow on the ground. It was still early in the morning so the park was empty._

 _The little girl was due to have a hospital appointment and so her mother had decided that they would make time so that they could stop at the park on the way there in order to spend some time together before Alessandra had her check up._

 _Mrs Harmon had also decided that they would stop for lunch on the way home after the appointment and possibly go to the store to get the little one a small toy._

" _Higher Mammina!", the little one screeched with excitement as the woman pushed her on the swing._

 _Michelle Harmon smiled brightly as she listened to the happy voice of her little girl, she loved her little girl more than words could possibly say and she enjoyed every moment that she spent with her._

 _She had struggled to become pregnant with Allie and her pregnancy was not an easy one. The woman had been very ill throughout the pregnancy and had eventually gone into premature labour at 33 weeks gestation due to HELLP Syndrome. The woman however was over the moon when she eventually got to hold her premature infant in her arms and to be able to feed her. She decided that the pain and worry that she had gone through throughout the pregnancy and labour was worth it to be able to hold her 'little princess' in her arms._

 _It was however very hard to watch her tiny baby go through the battle of her health issues. To see the wires attached along with the machines to assist the little one's lungs were all hard to see when they were all attached to her tiny little child who was tinted by the effects of jaundice._

 _Michelle followed the curly haired child's request and pushed her higher on the playground equipment but in a way that was safe. She would not push her any higher than she was at that point because she was worried that the little one would fall off of the swing and hurt herself. The 44 year old woman was very protective over her children but especially over her three year old little miracle who doctors thought would not survive._

"The swings", the little one said softly as she looked into Maura's eyes.

Jane smiled, "Oh really?", she replied happily.

Alessandra nodded as she moved so that she could see Jane better and her bright blue eyes sparkled a little as she spoke, "Then I can fly". Her words were energetic and enthusiastic as they slipped from her lips.

"They're my favourite too", the dark haired woman revealed with a smile as she held the two of them close to her in a protective and loving motion.

Allie grinned happily when she heard what the woman was telling her, "Really?", she asked excitedly.

Jane Rizzoli nodded with a smile as she confirmed what she had said, "Yep", she said with a 'pop' sound on the last letter of the word, "I always liked them as a kid and when I was a teenager I would always lean back so that I could see the sky as I swung on them".

Maura watched the two of them as they spoke about the playground equipment.

"What about now?", the little girl asked Jane as she watched her.

"I still go on them", she said softly, "Sometimes late at night I'll go to the park and do the same thing". Jane smiled remembering the view, "If you lay back on the swing and go as high as you can, then you can watch the sky and see all of the stars sparkling like diamonds".

Maura smiled at the image that it created in her mind's eye.

Alessandra snuggled down again, listening to Jane's heartbeat.

Jane ran her hand through the little one's curls, "Are you ready to go down for breakfast yet Tesoro?", she asked gently.

"In a minute", their foster daughter said quietly, "I'm busy".

Maura looked a little confused, as did Jane but the honey blonde was the one to speak, "You're busy, huh?", she said with a small smile, "With hugs?".

Alessandra shook her head, "Listening to superhero music", the little one whispered before raising her hand so that she could gently tap a finger to the woman's chest to signal that she was listening to Jane's heartbeat.

Maura Isles smiled, "Superhero music", she whispered softly in return, she had never heard of a heart beat being referred to as that before but she found herself rather fond of the term.

Jane did not reply to what the little girl referred to her heartbeat as but instead tugged her girlfriend and foster child closer to her before pressing a kiss to each of their heads.

After around twenty minutes, the three of them were downstairs in the kitchen with Maura sat on a stool at the breakfast bar, Alessandra in her lap whilst leaning back into the woman, and both of them were watching the dark haired Italian woman dancing around the kitchen as she made their pancakes.

Jane was wearing shorts and a tank top, her bare feet dancing around on the kitchen floor with a spatula in her hand as she created the pancakes that she had shaped like bunnies in the way that her own mother did for her. Three plates were set out on the side beside three glasses of orange juice and there were various fruits set out on a small platter nearby so that they could choose what to have on their pancakes. There were also a range of syrups and other dessert toppings that Jane had insisted upon pulling out of the cupboard.

A pancake was placed in front of the little girl first, "There you go my little Turtle", Jane said happily before nudging the platter closer so that the little one could reach the fruit - it had been at a distance from the child as she would have simply eaten the fruit whilst waiting otherwise.

Maura held Alessandra securely on her lap and kissed the side of her face in a caring manner.

Jane continued to make pancakes whilst Maura helped their foster child decorate the freshly made pancake. It did not take long before the second pancake was being placed in front of Maura.

Maura carefully held the little one with one arm, not putting her down, whilst she used her spare hand to sprinkle a small amount of sugar onto her pancake and throw on some fruit pieces. She managed to roll it before cutting off slices with her fork.

Detective Rizzoli smiled as she saw her girlfriend skillfully eat her pancakes using only one hand a fork whilst balancing their soon-to-be daughter in her lap. She found that she rather enjoyed watching her girlfriend with the rescued child because she loved to see the bright sparkle in Maura's eye at the sight of Allie's smile.

Once the third pancake had been made, Jane served it up for herself and turned down the stove before sitting down on the stool beside her girlfriend. The Italian woman found herself feeling happy and very lucky to be where she was in that moment because she had the woman of her dreams by her side and she had a beautiful daughter (although it was still unofficial).

Alessandra happily ate her pancake whilst sitting in the lap of Doctor Maura Isles, she was leaning back against her as she enjoyed each bite of her freshly made breakfast.

Maura could not help but smile as she balanced the little one in her lap, there had been a time that she thought that this would be physically impossible, something that would only happen in her happiest and most pleasant dreams. To be sitting there at the breakfast bar with the woman she had loved for years and also a beautiful little girl who was about to become their daughter, well that was simply amazing to her. For so long she had thought that Jane would never love her back, at least not in the way that she herself loved the Detective but now she realised how wrong she was, so very wrong.

The honey blonde Medical Examiner looked up at Jane and found the woman already looking at her, she smiled brightly seeing the bright shine of love in the dark haired woman's eyes. Maura's smile grew even bigger as she looked into the depths of her lover's eyes, "I love you", she said softly, leaning slightly closer to Jane.

Jane smiled, leaning into Maura as she knew what the other woman wanted. Her lips met the soft lips of her girlfriend in a gentle but loving kiss which turned into a few brief kisses.

Alessandra was far too distracted with her breakfast, her pancake was almost finished and she kept sneaking more strawberries onto her breakfast plate whilst the two women were distracted with each other.

Maura blushed slightly as she pulled back, glancing towards the little one that still remained in her lap before smiling with amusement.

Jane leaned forward to look at the little girl, "Is that….", she was about to ask if she liked her breakfast when she saw that the little one had strawberries around her lips which made it look like she had red lipstick on and the colouring of the fruit was painted around her face as well as on her fingers. The curly haired woman began to laugh, "Enjoying those?", she asked the little one.

Little Allie nodded with a strawberry held between her finger and thumb, whilst partially in her mouth. She did not reply verbally as she was too busy eating the red piece of food.

Maura grinned and hugged the little one close to her before pressing a kiss to the side of Alessandra's head.

An hour later the little one was dressed in a set of black jeans, white long sleeve top, white long jumper with sparkles dotted across it, a set of black boots and it was topped with a _Red Monsoon Florence Coat_ which was a felted coat with multiple rows of ruffles, a curved collar and flower buttons that were made from metal. Maura made sure that the little one was wrapped up warm with a fluffy scarf, hat and gloves on before they left the house.

Jane helped the little one into the car, securely strapping her into her seat before moving to the driver's side.

Maura got into the front passenger seat with her bag in her lap which she had put some snacks and drinks into so that they could spend a little longer at the park.

It was cold out so the two women had decided that they would drive to the park so that if the little one was too tired then they would not need to carry her back in the cold but could instead drive back in the warm. It would also be an escape route if the little girl got too overwhelmed as it would be their first outing together and they were unsure how the child would react - especially if there were more children in the park than what they expected. Due to the cold it was not normal for there to be many children in the park.

Alessandra watched out of the window as they drove towards the park, it was not far from the house but they deemed it to be the better option.

Jane glanced in her driver's rear view mirror to check on the little girl and found a smile spreading across her own face as she watched the child, she rather liked to check on the little girl in the back seat when she was driving. She always found that a warmth would spread through her when she looked at the child because not only had she found her after searching for over a year for her but she was also able to keep the child with her and Maura. The knowledge that Alessandra Mai Harmon was finally safe was brilliant to her, and even more so the fact that she could see this each and every day.

It did not take long before they were pulling up at the park, Jane parked the car and got out before moving directly to Alessandra's car door to open it up and unstrap her.

As per usual, the sight of the Italian woman put a huge smile upon the child's face and Allie threw her arms up in the arm as soon as the straps were released. Jane was more than happy to catch the little girl who had almost thrown herself out of the car at her.

Jane's smile was huge as she loved to see the excitement that the little girl had upon the sight of her - this was something that Maura also loved. Maura had never seen someone so excited to see her before and it was an amazing feeling. There was no question that little Alessandra Mai loved both of her foster mothers.

Both of the women were glad to have the child with them, the only thing that would have made it better for them would have been if they had found her sooner. The time that it took to find the child was still something that played on the Detective's mind a lot. It was a torture that played in the background of her mind on a constant basis but gradually she was battling it and learning to come to terms with it. She knew that it had not been her fault but on the other hand it made her doubt her detective skills despite the amount of times that Maura reassured her as it was something that she simply had to get through herself - it was an internal battle that she had to fight.

Maura and Jane were both looking forward to the day when the adoption would be finalised. The Detective also had a second plan up her sleeve that her girlfriend was unaware of; a secret plan which would soon change their lives for the better, that was of course if Maura said the magic word. 'Yes'.

Closing the door, Jane carried the blue eyed child on her hip in the direction of the park whilst her spare gloved hand held on firmly to Maura's as the two women walked side by side. They were pleased to see that the park was empty as it meant that they would not have to worry about the little one becoming too overwhelmed.

Maura reached forward and pushed open the blue painted metal gate so that Jane could enter the enclosed park space with their foster child.

Jane stepped in through the gate and onto the black coated playground flooring before moving towards a wooden bench which sat near the fencing. She sat down carefully and arranged the little girl so that she was sat in her lap.

Alessandra was sat rather comfortably in the woman's lap as she looked around the park, taking in her environment as she looked at the playground equipment and beyond, towards the trees that surrounded the park as well as the large areas of grass that were often used for sports.

Maura reached out and took the little one's gloved hand in her own, "Would you like to go and play?", she asked softly when Allie turned to look in her direction.

The slightly nervous child bit her lip slightly as she glanced around the park again, she was clearly unsure of her surroundings and so she made no attempt to get down from Jane's lap or to move in the slightest.

"We'll come and play too", Jane said softly towards the child as she held her close in a kind and caring embrace.

All of a sudden, Little Allie seemed much more welcoming to the idea of playing in the park and happily climbed down from the woman's lap although she did it without letting go of Maura's hand for even a millisecond. She turned to run towards the park and because she had not let go of Doctor Isles' gloved hand, she consequently tugged the woman with her.

Maura however had a huge smile upon her face as she was pulled towards the playground equipment by the happy little girl.

Jane was overwhelmed with various positive emotions as she saw the love of her life being tugged along by what would soon be _their_ daughter, the scene of the honey blonde playing with their daughter was something that had happened repeatedly in her dreams - dreams that she hated to be awoken from and always closed her eyes in order to attempt to slip back into that world but the attempts never did work.

 _The sun was shining brightly in Beacon Hill, the light was reflecting on the surface of the swimming pool and making the water sparkle like diamonds. The sound of birds were singing around them whilst the soft breeze made the Boston heatwave bearable._

 _Jane lay back on the sun lounging chair whilst watching Maura in the swimming pool._

 _Maura was in a bikini, her hair was pinned up whilst her face was free of any makeup and she had a huge smile painted on her face whilst she played with an energetic little girl._

 _The little girl had hazel eyes, dark hair and a massive smile on her face as she screeched happily._

 _She lay back beneath the sun's rays with a smile plastered on her face, watching as Maura spun the little one in circles in the water._

 _The swimsuit wearing child was spreading her hands out so that when she was spun around, the water would end up being thrown up into the air as it was forced away by her hands._

Jane got up from the bench and followed the two of them towards the playground equipment.

Alessandra began to climb up onto the monkey bars, climbing the wooden ladder than led to it with Maura standing very close by.

The protective, maternal nature of the woman was coming out more and more each day. She truly was a natural with the little one and she was enjoying every moment of it.

Jane came up behind her and wrapped her arms securely around Maura's waist before resting her chin on her girlfriend's shoulder as they both watched the little girl.

Allie reached her hands forward to grab hold of the first bar of the playground equipment and swung herself forward.

Maura flinched, instinctively going forward to grab hold of her but she was held back by Jane.

"She's okay", Jane whispered discreetly into her lover's ear.

The woman felt slightly nervous but nodded, she was worried that the little one would be hurt whilst playing.

Alessandra continued to swing, she was taking one bar in her hands at a time and kicking herself forward - it was clear that she had done it before as she was rather confident in her ability to cross the bars which were a lot taller than what she was.

The two women grinned happily when the little girl reached the other side safely, Maura stepped forward and embraced the child, "Well done Allie", she said softly.

"Your turn now Jane", the little one declared with a huge smile.

Jane was taken aback a little but grinned happily before stepping forward to do it. Her height however meant that she had to bend her legs slightly so that she would not be simply walking along the floor whilst holding the bars. She made it across the bars quite quickly before taking Alessandra from Maura's arms, "Your turn", she said with amusement.

Maura looked very hesitant as she looked up at the bars.

Allie grinned, "You can do it Maura", she said happily, she was enthusiastic and clearly had faith in the woman's abilities.

The honey blonde nodded briefly before stepping forward, she was a lot more hesitant than what Jane had been previously and so was slower than what the Detective was when making her way across the bars but eventually she made it across without falling from the wooden bars although her hands were a little sore.

Jane smiled and hugged the woman close to her as Allie excitedly declared, "I knew you could do it".

They played together for almost an hour before settling down on the swing. It was a large round swing which was made up of a large metal ring and covered in a thick netting. The two women were lying back on the swing with the little one in between them. Jane's leg was hanging off and she was using it to kick the ground so that they would swing calmly as they watched the sky.

Alessandra was quite happy to lay there in silence with the two women until she heard a loud noise. The child sat up straight suddenly upon the sound of laughter and screaming.

A group of children, were running towards the park - all of which were very loud as they shouted, laughed and screamed at each other. There were only 7 of them but to her it sounded more like 70 as she had not been around other children for a while and she definitely had not interacted with any for an even longer time period.

Quickly, the little girl's posture and behaviour changed dramatically.

She had been calm but now she was agitated.

She had been lying down but now she was sitting up and curling into herself, attempting to curl over into a small enough position that she would vanish from sight.

She had been still but now she trembled in fear.

Jane was first to react and sat up straight away in order to stop the swing with both of her feet.

Alessandra threw herself into the woman's arms and clung to her tightly.

"I think it's time to go home", Maura said softly as she reached up to run a hand through the little one's soft curly hair.

Jane nodded in agreement as she got off of the swing along with her girlfriend. The Detective held the little one close to her, tightly and securely she was carrying her towards the gate that they had entered through.

Her knuckles were going white with the strength that she was using to hold onto the material of Jane's coat although her hands were covered by thick and fluffy gloves that were keeping her hands warm.

She could feel the strong, vice-like grip that the little girl had on her clothing and she ensured that she walked quickly towards the car.

The other children could be heard on the playground equipment, they were very noisy and the noise had simply been too overwhelming for the little girl. Alessandra was again suffering from sensory overload, just like she had at the station when she initially was taken through to where Jane's desk resided.

"I'll sit in the back with her on the way home", Maura suggested as Jane began to attempt to buckle the little one into the car. The little one was clinging tightly and her breathing was abnormal.

Jane nodded towards Maura in response to her suggestion.

Maura moved around to the other side of the car in order to climb in and coax the child in from that direction.

After a few minutes, the little girl was safely held in Maura's lap. Although it was not an ideal positioning for the child to be in whilst in a moving vehicle, it was the easiest for them all as the child was so on edge and in need of comfort as she clung to the woman tightly.

Jane glanced in her rearview window to check on the little one, and she bit her lip worriedly as she saw the look on her girlfriend's face.

Maura looked worried and distressed as she held the little one close to her and rocked her as best she could in the position that she was in and whilst strapped into the car herself.

Alessandra was still visibly shaking but by the time that they arrived back at their home in Beacon Hill, she had calmed down a lot although was still visibly nervous.

Jane pulled up outside of their house and got out to open the house door before moving back to the car.

Maura knew what Jane would be doing so sat still in the car, waiting for her to return so that she could have help to get out of the car with the child.

Once the door had been unlocked and opened, Jane returned to Maura's car door in order to carefully open the door so that she would not frighten the child more than she already was.

Gently, Maura handed Allie over to the other woman and instantly the child clung to Jane yet again.

Maura got out of the car and made her way towards the house after locking the car, when she got into the living room Jane was already sat on the sofa with the little one in her lap.

Jane was rocking the little one carefully, Allie was clearly highly anxious as her eyes flickered around the room and she buried herself as close as possible to the woman.

Doctor Isles moved closer, she was quiet and slow in her movements as she slipped the blanket off of the back of the sofa. She placed it on the side and then moved the child so that she could wrap the child firmly within the soft material of the blanket, swaddling her as if she were an infant before placing her back into Jane's lap.

Jane held the little one close to her, running a hand through her hair.

Meanwhile, Maura heated up some milk and put it into mugs before moving back to the sofa and setting the cups down on the coffee table quietly.

"What about a movie?", Maura offered gently.

"Sounds good", Jane said softly whilst holding a now sleepy Alessandra.

Maura picked up the remote controls and flicked through the settings in order to get to Netflix so that they could select a movie, she selected Frozen as she knew that the little girl was rather fond of the film.

Another blanket was pulled over them, Maura curled up beside Jane and rested her head on the woman's shoulder.

Alessandra buried herself into Jane, listening to the calming beat of her heart as she watched the movie and listened to the beautiful singing of Idina Menzel.

It was not long before the little girl was fast asleep in Jane's lap with her legs over Maura.

Jane ran her fingers over the small child's cheek before looking at Maura, "You did great Maur', how did you know to wrap her up like that?".

Maura looked down at the now peacefully sleeping child, "I read an article the other day about anxiety in children and the effects of swaddling", she said softly.

A smile spread over Jane's face before she leaned over to press a loving kiss to her lover's lips.

"She did so well today", Maura commented, "I wasn't sure how she'd react to such an open space and she was brilliant".

Jane nodded with a smile as she held the woman close whilst still holding the little one securely in her arms.

Maura rested her head on Jane's shoulder as they continued to watch the movie, snuggled up together, they were soon all asleep together.

Protectively, Jane held on to both her girlfriend and their daughter.

 **A/N: Apologies for the huge delay in updating, I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last updated! It has been a little hectic but I am back at uni soon so I will have some peace and quiet (when I have time gaps between assignments, lectures, workshops, meetings etc).**

 **I tried to get this chapter up yesterday when I realised that it was January 7th but well it takes forever to get anything done here, so I am a little… delayed and am now apparently behind my story datewise.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review. I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story so far.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you so much for reviewing this story, I am glad that you are enjoying this story so much.**

 **Jjswinnlive - I'm glad that you think so, thank you for reviewing. Hopefully I will have more regular updates for you all soon.**

 **Xenagabbyrizziles - Glad that you liked the love scene and enjoyed the fluff. Thank you for reviewing.**

 **Laurenknight13 - Thank you for taking the time to review. I am so glad that you are enjoying the story. I will most likely do various flashbacks to show their relationship progression as well as the flashbacks to show what happened with Alessandra. I am unsure on Massachusetts adoption law but I am aiming to have them adopt her as girlfriends with the possibility of them marrying later. This story seems to have a life of its own and continues to grow without permission so we shall see.**

 **Tjmcqueen - Thank you for your review, I am glad that you like it so far.**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for reviewing the last chapter, I do hope that you continue to enjoy the story as you have done so far.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you so much for reviewing again, I am glad to see that you are still enjoying the story. There will be one more day/chapter after this one before returning to interviews within the Monday chapter.**

 **Guest - Thank you for leaving a review/request - I am definitely considering writing for 'How to Get Away with Murder' - Eve/Annalise and I will add it to my list but I have so many to write that it may take a while. I am going to work on increasing my output of stories soon, so whenever I get chance then I will be writing. I love the show and who doesn't love Famke Janssen? That woman is stunning. I have this one to write, a few to finish and then a notebook of ideas that include but are not limited to; NCIS, CSI, CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, Rizzoli and Isles, Body of Proof, Loving Annabelle (I freaking love Katherine Brooks' work and who doesn't like seeing 'Simone' on screen?), Orange is the New Black, and Helix.**


	38. Sunday, January 8th - Part I

"Are you sure that it's not too early?", Jane said as she paced the kitchen a little and ran her hand through her dark mass of hair whilst still wearing her pyjamas.

"We want to welcome my _new grandbaby_ into the family Jane", her mother said as she continued to make the fresh gnocchi from scratch, "and I've already had the boys promise to be on their best behaviour".

"But you didn't see her yesterday Ma!", she exclaimed although attempting to keep her voice down so that she would not be overheard in the other parts of the house, "We were at the park and everything was fine, but then the moment that she heard the sound of other kids… she just… she just freaked out Ma".

Angela looked up from her work at the kitchen counter with a concerned expression on her face as she watched the worry on her own daughter's face, "Which is why everyone will be on their best behaviour Janie", the woman said gently as she put the things down before moving closer to the younger woman, "No shouting or screaming and I've told them to keep at a safe distance too. I told them everything that Maura told me to".

"I… I'm just worried Ma", Jane admitted, "I don't want her to be scared like she was yesterday".

Mrs Rizzoli reached her slightly flour-covered hand up to cup her daughter's cheek lovingly, "I know it hurts when your baby girl is scared", she said gently, "But you are Maura are both doing great with her". "We just want her to know that she has a family around her that want to know her and to love her", the Italian matriarch said with a caring smile, "If it gets too much for her, then I promise that we'll leave".

Jane nodded silently, "You really promise?", she questioned, "The moment that Maura or I say so, then you leave? _All_ of you?".

Angela reluctantly nodded, she knew that it was what was best for the child if she became overwhelmed and she could not help but smile at how protective her daughter was with the little girl.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Maura was sat in bed with Alessandra in her lap; the little girl had not long woken up and was snuggled into the honey blonde woman quite happily.

"Today Allie, there are going to be some people coming here", the woman said softly.

Alessandra looked up at Maura, concern etched upon her facial features, "Why?", she whispered.

"Every Sunday, we all get together and have Sunday dinner", Maura explained, "It's mostly Jane's family so her mother will be there along with her two brothers and possibly TJ too which is her nephew but he's only a year old".

Blue eyes stared up at Maura as the little girl listened carefully.

"Detective Korsak will be there too and so will Detective Frost", the woman continued, "Is that okay?".

Alessandra hesitated but eventually she responded by nodding nervously.

"Jane is in the kitchen right now with her mother as Angela likes to come early to prepare dinner", Doctor Isles said with a smile as she ran a hand through the little girl's dark curls, "We'll get dressed soon and if you would like to then you can help Angela in the kitchen". The concept of Allie helping in the kitchen was something that Angela herself had suggested when speaking with Maura about Sunday dinner, "Angela told me that she'll be cooking Gnocchi for dinner today, especially for you".

The little one's eyes lit up with excitement, "Really?", she said happily.

Maura laughed gently and nodded at what the small girl had said, "There will be other food too as Angela is rather fond of cooking, and for dessert there are Cannolis".

Alessandra looked rather excited about the food options, she was very fond of both Gnocchi and Cannolis.

"How about we go downstairs and you can give Jane some of your fabulous morning hugs?", Maura suggested, "Then if you'd like to then you can help Angela make Gnocchi".

Allie nodded happily, "Superhero", she said with happiness within her voice at the thought of seeing the Detective.

Maura smiled at the clear sign of love and adoration that came from the little girl, she hugged her tightly against her again before getting out of bed with the little one beside her.

A set of little arms shot up into the air when the woman stood up, the little one was slightly nervous with Angela downstairs and Maura did not hesitate in picking her up to swing her onto her hip in a comfortable positioning.

She walked downstairs, and into the kitchen with the child securely held on her hip, "Good Morning", the honey blonde said with a smile.

"Jane!", the little one screeched excitedly with her arms out, leaning out of Maura's arms slightly.

"Good Morning Maura", Angela replied with a smile, "And my gorgeous little grandbaby", she was strongly resisting the urge to scoop the child up into her arms and squeeze her tightly.

Jane stepped forward straight away and wrapped her arms around the two of them, "Good Morning", she said softly, kissing Maura's lips softly and lovingly before pressing a kiss to the child's forehead.

Alessandra did not wait for Jane to take her but instead she opted to clamber to her on her own, clinging to her and not giving the woman a choice in the matter.

Detective Rizzoli did not object to taking the little girl, she loved the child and enjoyed being able to hold her safely in her embrace. She squeezed the child against her making the little one giggle.

"You're going to squish me like a pancake", the little one exclaimed through her giggles.

Jane grinned, "Well you know what that means don't you?", she said mischievously.

The curly haired child shook her head, "No", she said quietly as she looked at the woman who was currently holding onto her.

"That...means", Jane said gradually, "that...I get to…..eat you all up", she said before pretending to eat her, making rather comical noises to accompany the crazy actions.

Angela and Maura both watched on with huge smile on their faces as the little girl screeched with laughter and squirmed in the arms of the Italian Detective.

Jane soon stopped attempting to 'eat' the child and instead opted to simply hug the little girl.

Alessandra gradually calmed down, her excited breathing pattern returning to normal as she relaxed into the safety of her foster mother's embrace.

Angela Rizzoli stepped a little closer to her daughter and as a result, closer to the little girl, "Allie?", she said softly, "Would you like to come and help me make the Gnocchi?".

The little one watched Angela with slightly widened eyes, observing her every movement very carefully.

"I even have a special stool for you to stand on", the woman said indicating to the wooden _Little Helper FunPod in Natural with Blackboard Side Panels_ that Maura had ordered from _Kiddicare_ after her conversation about the little one helping with the preparation of the dinner. The woman's protective side had come out and she was worried that the child might fall if standing on a stool so she had researched and found the best product that she could find in order to keep their foster daughter and soon to be adopted daughter safe. "Would you like to come and see it?", the woman asked softly with her arms held out, although doubting that the little girl would go to her.

Jane and Maura both watched the little girl to see what her reaction would be.

Alessandra hesitated for a moment; she looked between Angela's face and her open arms for a few seconds before eventually leaning over to go into the woman's arms.

Both Maura and Jane smiled brightly at what the child had done, both knew that it was important to the little one's recovery but also to the matriarch who now held the little one in her arms.

Angela had watery eyes at the fact that the little one had so willing gone to her and allowed her to not only be close to her but also to hold her. The older woman knew that this in itself was a huge step for the child.

Alessandra did not hug the woman but instead simply allowed herself to be held and carried towards the stool.

Carefully, and under the watchful eyes of both Maura and Jane, Angela helped Allie onto her enclosed stool so that she could help with the cooking for Sunday dinner.

"Are you ready to help?", the woman asked with a smile.

Allie nodded as she looked around at the ingredients on the counter.

"I'll be back down soon Allie, I'm going to go and get ready", Maura said with a smile.

The little one smiled at the woman and put her arms up to be hugged.

Maura did not hesitate to walk over and embrace the little girl in a warm hug, "I won't be long", she said gently, "You can get dressed when you're finished here".

"Okay", the little one whispered softly in response with a smile as she gradually let go of her foster mother.

Maura made her way upstairs in order to get ready for the day whilst Jane sat down at the breakfast bar with her cup of coffee, watching the little girl standing beside her mother.

Angela smiled brightly as she stood beside the curly haired child, "I've already made the dough so all we have to do is make it into Gnocchi", she said happily, "This ball of dough is for you".

Alessandra watched the woman, and then looked down at the ball of dough in front of her. Without any prompting at all, the little girl began to tear off small chunks in order to mould the pieces into what would resemble Gnocchi.

Mrs Rizzoli watched as the little girl continuously put freshly shaped pieces in front of her, lining them up carefully on the trays that were set out on the counter, "Jane? You didn't tell me that she'd done it before", she said as she looked up at her daughter.

Jane laughed at her mother's reaction, "That's 'cause I didn't know Ma", she replied with a minor roll of her eyes.

Allie did not respond but she continued to make the Gnocchi, she was humming along to herself and seeming to enjoy partaking in the activity.

"Who taught you how to make Gnocchi, Allie?", Angela asked her little mini chef.

"Mammina", Alessandra replied simply.

"Did you cook a lot with your Mammina?", she asked, watching the little one's reaction.

The little girl was not phased by the line of questions at all, she nodded and smiled towards Angela, "Mammina loved to cook, especially Gnocchi and Cannolis - they're my favourite".

Angela smiled, "They're my Janie's favourite too", she replied as she started to make her own Gnocchi pieces.

It was not long before they had finished making the Gnocchi shapes. Jane took Alessandra upstairs with her whilst her mother finished preparing the dinner.

Maura was finishing off the touches to her makeup when they entered the room so Jane cleaned their daughter up and handed her over to Maura. Maura was quite happy to be in charge of helping the little one get dressed whilst Jane got dressed herself.

The woman opted to dress the little girl in an Ivory _Mini Me Lace Dress_ by _Dolce and Gabbana_ which had an embroidered silver sequin star featuring upon it along with three other child themed emblems. It was made of pure cotton lace with a silk lining and had been inspired by their adult range. A small set of matching Ivory ballet pumps were put on her feet that featured a similar looking sequin star on the side of it.

Alessandra sat perfectly still in between Maura's legs whilst the woman carefully brushed her mass of dark, wild curls and took out all of the knots that had formed in her hair.

Jane did not take long to get ready at all and soon the three of them had returned downstairs in preparation for people to start arriving. The table had already been set, the food was almost ready and Angela had the plates out ready to dish up the freshly made food.

Alessandra was stood on her enclosed wooden kitchen stool, she was passing various items that had been used whilst cooking to Angela so that they could be put into the dishwasher.

Maura was sat at the breakfast bar reading emails on her cell phone whilst Jane was sat beside her; sipping at her drink whilst watching how the little girl was interacting with her mother.

Suddenly a knock came on the door, the blue eyed child jumped and panic appeared in her eyes. Allie dropped down into a ball, hiding inside the enclosed 'box' like space.

Maura looked up at the noise and began to get down from the stool.

Jane had already been watching the little girl and so she jumped from her seat and moved straight to her side.

Doctor Isles waited for a moment until she knew that their little girl was okay before going to open the door.

"Hey Maura", Frankie said as soon as the door opened.

"Good Afternoon Frankie", she replied instantly.

"How comes you're locking the door now?", Tommy questioned with an eyebrow raised as the two men stepped into the house. He was carrying TJ.

"Jane and I thought that it would be much safer for Allie if it were to be locked at all times", the Doctor replied politely, before greeting the infant.

Frankie smiled, "Sounds like a good idea to me".

"Please make yourselves at home", Maura said before excusing herself.

Jane was sat in the living room with Alessandra in her arms, the little girl was curled up tightly and had been wrapped in a soft, warm blanket.

Maura moved to Jane's side, sitting down beside them and wrapping her arms around the two of them.

Allie had calmed but was clearly still nervous.

"Is she okay?", Maura asked quietly.

Nodding, the Detective replied with a small smile, "Yeah, she'll be okay, the noise just made her jump but I've warned her that the door will go again soon so she's ready for it".

Maura nodded in response as she reached out her hand to brush a stray curl out of the little girl's face before cupping the child's cheek lovingly.

Angela was stood near the kitchen counter with her grandson in her arms whilst beside both of her sons watching her daughter, soon-to-be daughter-in-law and soon-to-be adopted grandbaby. The love was so clear in their faces as they comforted the nervous little girl.

Frankie moved forward very carefully, Jane looked up and observed him closely, he nodded towards his sister to tell her that he understood and that he would be cautious in his actions around the little one.

"Hey, Allie?", Jane said gently, sitting her up more before continuing, "There are three new people for you to meet okay?".

Alessandra nodded nervously as she pressed the side of her face into Jane even more.

"Hello there Allie", Frankie said with a smile, "My name's Frankie and I'm Jane's brother".

Another knock on the door came and the little girl's eyes flickered to the doorway. Tommy went and answered it for them whilst Angela entertained TJ in the kitchen for a moment as they did not wish to overwhelm Little Allie with everyone at once.

Allie simply stared at him, she said nothing.

"I'm her favourite brother", the man whispered dramatically.

The little one smiled a little, clearly trying not to laugh at what he had said.

"Hey!", Tommy exclaimed from the other side of the room, "I heard that!".

Alessandra jumped slightly at his exclamation and pulled back a little.

Jane glared at him, "Tom", she said sternly, "Calm down".

"That is Tommy", Frankie explained, "He's the annoying one".

Allie nodded, as though taking each and every piece of information in and analysing it all before storing it.

Korsak walked over with a smile, "Hello there Allie".

"Hello Old Man", the little one said with a smile.

The men laughed, even Korsak who shook his head and pretended not to like it. The man pointed at Frost saying, "It's his fault".

"Well hello there little lady", Frost said with a big smile.

Alessandra smiled, "Hello Frosty", she said quite happily.

Frankie laughed, "You're a snowman", he commented, clearly finding the concept rather amusing.

"Watch out or I'll have to help her come up with something for you too", Frost commented towards the man.

"Boys", Angela called out in a much quieter fashion than what she usually did, "Time for dinner so go and wash up ready".

Despite the request being what a mother would request of their child, all four, fully grown men did as they were told.

Mrs Rizzoli moved over to Alessandra and knelt down in front of her, "Allie?", she said softly, "Would you do me a big favour and play with TJ here whilst I go and plate the dinner?".

Alessandra looked at the little boy who was balanced on the woman's knee, she was examining him carefully from his slightly messy hair to his drooling mouth to his shoe encased feet.

Maura and Jane both watched on, they were unsure of how the child would react and were ready to interrupt if they thought that it was not in the best interest of the children.

TJ made strange noises, babbling to himself.

"Okay", the little one said softly as she carefully uncurled herself from the blanket that she had been securely wrapped within whilst being held in the safety of Jane's arms.

Angela smiled brightly as she put the little boy on the floor and stepped back so that she would not be overcrowding Alessandra.

Alessandra knelt down on the floor, "What's your name?" the little girl asked gently, curious as to whether this tiny human could talk.

"'Boon", the child said as he pointed at the applique hot air balloon on the young girl's dress.

"No", Alessandra said as she shook her head, "You're supposed to say TJ, Maura said that's your name".

TJ seemed to listen for a moment before repeating, "'boon", yet again.

Allie shrugged, "Okay, you can change your name to 'boon if that's what you really want", she said softly, "Santa said it's good to change your name every now and then anyways, just to keep people on their toes".

TJ was silent.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how names keep people up on their tippy toes either", Allie said quietly to the boy.

Maura got up to go and help Angela with the food whilst Jane remained beside the children.

"Well, 'boon", Allie said with a smile, "My name is Allie, can you say that? Allie?".

TJ babbled a little before saying "Lee".

Alessandra smiled and nodded, "Almost", she said encouragingly, "Try again for me? Ah-Lee. Ah-Lee".

The boy who was sat on the living room rug replied, "Allie", straight away.

"Yay", the little girl said excitedly, "Jane, Jane, he said my name".

Jane smiled, "That's great Allie", she said happily.

The men had returned to the room and were at the kitchen counter discussing the latest sport results.

"How about I take you two into the bathroom and you can both wash your hands for dinner?", Jane asked with a smile.

"Okay", Allie said in response before standing up with her hand offered to the younger child, "Come on 'boon".

TJ babbled but used the little girl to stand up, pulling her dress instead of her hand.

"No 'boon", the little girl scolded him, "Not the dress, you're supposed to take my hand".

The little boy babbled, bounced a little and then took the offered hand of the little girl who was wriggling her fingers at him.

Jane could not help but smile at the two of them.

Maura stepped closer, "Would you like any help Jane?", she offered happily.

Jane nodded, "One of us can hold TJ up and one of us can hold Allie up so they can wash their hands", she suggested.

Alessandra was walking towards the bathroom with TJ's hand in hers, the little man was babbling along - his language was still being worked on and had some way to go.

When they were in the downstairs bathroom, Jane held TJ up to the sink whilst Maura held Allie up so that both children could wash their hands. Jane however had to wash TJ's for him. The two women then placed both children on the floor; Jane helped TJ to dry his hands whilst Alessandra dried her own.

Maura and Jane both began to wash their hands too whilst the two children were on the floor with a towel.

Alessandra threw the towel over TJ's head, the little boy struggled to tug it off of his head but when he did, the little girl leaned slightly closer before saying "Boo!".

The little boy began to giggle happily.

The two women could not help but smile at the sight whilst those that could hear could not resist smiling either.

Upon hearing the laughter, Allie was happy with the response and did it again. Three times later and the little boy was screeching with laughter. Tommy was stood in the doorway with his cell phone out, recording his son with his new niece as he wanted to show Lydia.

After a moment, Angela called out for them to go to the table for dinner and gradually each person made their way to sit at the dining table. Maura was beside Jane, next to her was Alessandra who was sat on a red _Prince Lionheart Booster Pod_ as she was rather short for her age, and she was next to TJ or 'boon as she was now calling him - apparently upon his 'request'. The one year old boy was sat in his _Redkite Feed Me Compact Highchair_ which was blue and decorated with sail boats, he was beside his grandmother whilst beside her was Tommy, then Frankie, then Korsak, then came Frost, and then it was back round to Maura.

Dinner had been served. It was their first Sunday Dinner with the rescued child safely in their home. They had put the children beside each other to see how it would be but Jane was ready to switch seats with her daughter at any moment.

 **A/N: Apologies again for the delay - I was aiming to post sooner but assignments have been kicking my ass. I have a 'break' in assignments soon so MAYBE I will be able to update a little more regularly …. At least for a bit. For some reason it takes me longer to do these chapters than it does to write the case information. Two more chapters before I get back to the case details.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you again for your kind review.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review, I am glad that you are enjoying it.**

 **Xenagabbyrizzles - Thank you for reviewing this chapter.**

 **Laurenknight13 - Thank you for leaving a review. I agree, anxiety attacks can be rather scary.**

 **Guest - Thank you for reviewing, I am so glad that you are enjoying the story so far and do hope that you continue to do so.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for reviewing again! There will be 'bumps' unfortunately as it would be unrealistic if there wasn't any considering what she has been through. The bumps will mostly be around her reactions to various things as she begins to adjust to life away from the monster. After this chapter then there will be January 8th Part II and a January 9th Part I before going back to the case interviews in January 9th Part II. The interview chapters will most likely be much longer as I find them much easier to write than I do these middle chapters at the moment.**

 **Extra note: Has anyone seen 'Lost in Time' yet? It's Katherine Brooks' new movie starring Jill Hennessy. If you haven't then go and check her out on Vimeo at lostintime or go to Twitter and search 'Kat Brooks', 'Jill Hennessy' or 'Lost in Time'. It has not been fully released yet but she has released part of it as a preview on her Go fund me page (her movie funding is 100% from 'backers' rather than huge movie budgets… despite how AMAZING her movies are… and if you don't know who Katherine Brooks is - does Loving Annabelle ring a bell? If you have not seen it watch that too!**


	39. Sunday, January 8th - Part II

After the delicious homemade Italian dinner had been eaten and stomachs filled, TJ or 'boon' as he had 'decided' to change his name to was sat on the living room rug with a few select toys placed in front of him, ones that Maura kept in her home, safely within a small basket that resided in her laundry room for when her best friend's nephew visited or when she babysat him.

He had been cleaned up and the sauce from dinner was no longer coating his face, hands or body. He had been changed into his dark blue, space themed pyjamas due to the amount of food that had been scattered down the front of his clothing, somehow managing to get some of it inside of his shirt too as well as in the cuffs at the bottom of his trousers.

Opposite the little boy was Alessandra Mai, the little one had managed to keep her clothing clean throughout dinner and had avoided the messy infant until he had been successfully cleaned by his father. She had not changed into her pyjamas yet, and so she remained in her designer dress.

 _A piece of sauce covered Gnocchi fell down from the little boy's fork and rather than falling onto the tray of his highchair, it instead hit his top, the sauce marking the clothing material as the piece of food tumbled down it._

 _Allie's jaw dropped as she watched the messy child get in even more of a mess, she nudged Jane lightly before climbing over into the woman's lap, not giving the woman a choice in the matter._

" _Hey Allie", Jane said softly, in a caring fashion as her arms instinctively wrapped around her curly haired daughter, "What's wrong?"._

" _I don't want to sit there anymore", the little one said simply as she glanced over at the infant who looked as if he had taken a shower in Gnocchi sauce - with Gnocchi included of course. It was covering his hands. It was dripping on his clothing. It was smothering his face. His bright smile was painted. It was all over the highchair. Some of it on the floor. Even his hair could not escape the wrath of the wild sauce, it had turned a slightly strange colour and was rather messy too. Although, he did in fact seem to be enjoying it and he was actually eating some of it - which was the important part._

 _Jane looked at her nephew and tried not to laugh at the insane mess that the child had managed to get himself in, she was tugging her lip into her mouth in order to prevent her laughter bubbling to the surface at the comical sight of the Gnocchi decorated child, "Why not?", she asked as if she did not already know the precise reason why the child would not wish to sit there._

 _Alessandra looked up at her with wide eyes in disbelief, "Can't you see him?", the little girl asked in a hushed but slightly shocked tone of voice, "He's so messy"._

 _Laughing, having been unable to hold it in any longer, the Italian woman replied, "So?", jokingly questioning the little one._

 _The blue eyed little girl rolled her eyes in a slightly dramatic fashion, "He'll get my new dress all messy Jane", Alessandra looked down at her dress, "Maura chose this… and I really, really like it"._

 _Jane smiled, "Don't worry Allie", she said softly, in a reassuring manner as she ran a hand through the girl's curls, "That's what we have washing machines for"._

" _Jane!", Maura gasped, as if the woman had something that was severely offensive in nature, or had accidently sworn in front of the children, "You can't put that in the washing machine, it's dry clean only"._

 _Detective Rizzoli's head spun around quickly, her widened eyes moving instantly to meet Maura's, "Maur', are you telling me you've put our daughter in some fancy pants Prada dress then let her eat Ma's Gnocchi? Did you forget how much this stuff stains clothes?"._

" _First of all Jane", Doctor Isles said softly, and rather calmly, the attention of everyone at the table was on the two of them now, "It isn't a 'fancy pants Prada dress', it's a Mini Me Lace Dress by Dolce and Gabbana"._

 _Alessandra watched the two of them from her position in Jane's lap, she was a little bit confused as to what the fuss was about. She looked down at her dress, wondering why they were talking about it so much, she was wondering if Jane liked it - it did not seem that way to her._

 _Jane rolled her eyes in much the same way that Allie had done only moments beforehand, "Mauraaaaa", she groaned with slight annoyance, as the others looked down at their food and pretended to concentrate on that instead, "You still let her eat Ma's Gnocchi wearing goodness knows how much worth of dress"._

" _It was in an online sale", Maura replied quickly, "It was a bargain really", seeming happy with her purchase._

" _Do I even want to know how much?", she questioned as she leaned her forehead against the back of Allie's curls._

 _Maura looked a little confused, "I don't know Jane, only you know that"._

" _Fine", she replied, "How much did the soon-to-be Gnocchi and Cannoli cream covered dress cost?"._

" _Approximately $660", Maura replied as if it were a normal amount to spend on a child's dress, "With tax and shipping of course"._

 _Instantly, Jane's jaw dropped, "What the…", she stopped herself from cursing from the shock of the figure, "Well.. at least it came with tax and shipping", she said before rolling her eyes in a rather dramatic fashion. Her eyes shot down to the little girl, "You are definitely not going anywhere near TJ until he's cleaned up", she said and shifted her seat back from the table, "and now that we've finished dinner, I'm moving you away from the table in case you lean in something, or in case I drop something on you"._

 _Alessandra shook her head, "He said his name is 'boon, remember?", completely missing the point of what the woman had said and instead focusing on the name of the little boy._

 _Jane could not help but smile at the little girl in her arms and nodded, "Well in that case, stay away from 'boon"._

"' _Boon!", TJ yelled excitedly and waved his spoon around, a bit of the sauce flying off of the plastic object._

" _Okay, you are going to go and sit on the sofa so that he doesn't spray you with food", Jane said, carefully placing her on the floor like a fragile china doll, "I'll be over in a minute Tesoro"._

 _Alessandra paused for a moment, "Jane?", she said quietly._

" _Yes Allie", Jane replied softly, as she looked down at the adorable child._

" _Do…", the little one paused, seeming a little nervous about asking the question - or more importantly, nervous about the answer, "Don't you like my dress?"._

 _Jane looked at the slightly sad looking little girl and embraced her quickly, "Of course I do, I love it and I love you even more", she said as she held the child close to her, "You look beautiful my little turtle tesoro, now go and sit on the sofa, I'll be over real soon"._

" _Okay", the curly haired girl said, a little happier before she ran over to the sofa and threw herself onto it, in almost a starfish landing position._

 _The Detective spun around to Maura again, her eyes landing back on the honey blonde woman, "What were you thinking? Kids get messy Maur', and $660 for a dress is too much"._

 _Maura was looking down with teary eyes._

 _Jane stood up and took hold of Maura's arm gently, "We'll be back in a moment Allie", she said leading the other woman from the room._

 _Allie looked up and nodded in confusion as the two women left the room, her eyes following them - with sadness within them._

 _Frost moved closer to the little girl and was quickly distracting her with videos that he found on his phone. The little one was giggling happily at the rather amusing clips that he was showing her._

 _The moment that they were in the safety of the bathroom, behind the closed and locked door, Jane wrapped her arms around the smaller woman tightly, "I'm not mad at you Maur', it's just... she doesn't_ _ **need**_ _to be wearing expensive dresses when she's eating Ma's Gnocchi, what about you save those for special occasions?"._

" _I just.. I just want her to have nice things", Maura mumbled against her lover, it went without saying that she was not only mimicking her own upbringing but also trying to find a way to compensate for the horrors that the little one had been through - she wanted the little one to have pretty clothes rather than the outgrown, tattered pyjamas that she had been found in._

" _I know you do Maur', and I'm sure that she loves the clothes that you've bought her", Jane said softly as she traced circles on the other woman's back in a soothing manner, whilst still holding her close to her, "It's just that... you know how much Ma's Gnocchi can mark clothing, I mean just look at 'boon out there"._

 _Maura chuckled slightly at the mention of the name, before she nodded with her head still remaining against her girlfriend's chest, listening to the calming sound of the Detective's heartbeat, "It's just that it's our first sunday dinner with her and…"._

" _You wanted it to be special", Jane said softly, finishing her girlfriend's sentence for her, "I know and it will be". She let out a heavy breath, "Boy am I glad that I found out about the dress_ _ **after**_ _she ate her dinner", she said with a hint of amusement and a slight laugh._

 _The honey blonde woman looked up at her lover and smiled with a slight sparkle of amusement in her beautiful hazel eyes, "I'm glad too", she said softly, pausing briefly before continuing, "I imagine you may have made her change clothes or…"._

" _..or put a garbage bag on her", Jane said with a slight smirk, again finishing Maura's sentence although this time in a way that the Medical Examiner would not have intended on finishing the sentence at all._

 _Maura looked appalled, clearly not registering the comment as a joke at all, "I was going to say... or just make her take it off, and you will not dress our child in a garbage bag!"._

" _Chill Maur', I was joking", Jane said quickly, although highly amused that her girlfriend had taken the comment so seriously although truth be told she should have expected something like that from the slightly socially awkward woman as she did not always comprehend what many others would consider a 'joke', "I would never dress her in a garbage bag"._

" _Promise?", Maura asked, a little uncertain, although with a lot of relief etched within her facial features, the look of concern and worry had dropped from it as well as the look of pure horror at such a ghastly concept._

 _Jane Rizzoli nodded with a bright and enigmatic smile, "I promise", she said softly, "Anyways, I'm pretty sure you'd kill me if I did that to our daughter"._

 _Maura simply smiled in response, the truth was that she was smiling more at the last two words than she was at any other part of her lover's response._

 _Meanwhile, in the living room, Alessandra was sat on the sofa beside Frost or 'Frosty' as she called him, watching videos on his phone and giggling at them. She seemed to be getting along quite well with the young male Detective._

Jane was sat on the sofa comfortably, watching her only nephew and (soon-to-be) adopted daughter play on the floor in front of her. The little girl had sat so close to the woman that she was in fact sitting in the space between the Detective's legs, whenever she leaned back, she would be leaning back directly against the sofa with her head tilted to the side causing it to be resting against the dark haired woman's leg.

Beside Jane on the sofa, was Maura Isles who had her hand gently resting on her girlfriend's leg, and her head resting calmly on her left shoulder as she too watched the two young children play together on the floor of her living room of their Beacon Hill home.

Frankie (who still did not have a nickname allocated to him by the little girl) and 'Frosty' had both taken the two armchairs whilst Tommy Rizzoli was sat on a dining room chair, he had initially intended on sitting on the floor with the children but had found that Alessandra watched him like a hawk and would not play with him that close to her.

Tommy was a little upset that she did not seem to be taking to him as well as he had seen her take to Frost earlier in the afternoon, however he did manage to hide it well and he also knew that it would take time for the child to adjust to her new environment and to the new people within it. After all, it was the first time that the little one had met him and he knew that it may be overwhelming for her to meet so many people at once - knowing that she had only had significant interaction with both Maura and his older sister.

Both Vince Korsak and Angela Rizzoli were in the kitchen, with a view of the living room from where they were. He had opted to help her clean up, put the leftovers away in the fridge, and to prepare the dessert (although all it needed was to be put onto plates as Angela had opted to have Cannolis for dessert, knowing that her new granddaughter had a strong fondness for the Italian dessert).

The woman was in full blown celebration mode about having a new grandchild to dote on - or at least she would have been if she had not promised to be on her best behaviour so her current 'celebration mode' was a lot more toned down than it usually would be if she were in any other situation, however it was unclear if Alessandra would be able to cope with such an over enthusiastic Italian woman bouncing around the house whilst giving her an extremely large quantity of hugs and kisses.

Alessandra leaned back against the sofa, her head resting to the right and pressing up to the inside of Jane's right knee.

Detective Rizzoli reached her hand over and gently touched the child's dark curls, causing the little one to look up at her with a huge smile. Jane could not help but smile at the small girl in return.

Maura happily watched the two of them silently interacting, whilst snuggled into the side of her girlfriend.

Angela went to call out, to shout and tell everyone that they could come and grab their choice of cannolis but as she looked over and prepared to do it, she noticed the interaction between her daughter and granddaughter. She opted not to shout, remembering her promise to her daughter about remaining calm and not scaring the recently rescued little girl. Instead she chose to calmly walk towards the others before speaking to them all, telling them that they could get dessert now.

Tommy and Frankie went to race over to the kitchen straight away but a quick and rather stern look from their mother made them stop, glance at the wide eyed child, who was now staring at them with a slightly tilted head - seemingly slightly confused at their antics. The two boys then had the most tame, calm and discreet 'race' that they had ever had in their lives.

Frost approached Alessandra cautiously, but then knelt down a little distance from her, she did seem to be getting used to him but he preferred to let her approach him rather than the other way around. He wanted her to make that last move to cover that last bit of distance so that she would not feel pressured or trapped by him.

 _Noticing that the two women were leaving the room, and that little Alessandra Mai looked so uneasy sat on the sofa by herself, Frost decided to get up slowly and move towards her. He did not however sit beside her but instead opted to sit at the opposite end of the sofa so that she had the choice as to whether she wished to be any closer than that to him._

 _Allie looked at him with a slightly tilted head, unsure as to what he was doing._

" _Would you like to see some funny videos?", the male Detective asked her in a soft, and caring manner, "I have some on my cell that I could show you"._

 _She paused for a moment, a little hesitant to answer but after a moment of looking between both the electronic device in his hand, and Jane's partner, she finally responded. She did not however respond with words but opted to shuffle closer to him, and whilst looking up at him, she tapped the phone once with her finger. The screen lit up and she smiled brightly up at him._

" _Videos it is then", the man said with a grin, rather proud of himself that he had put that smile there but also that the child had opted to move closer rather than be handed the phone from a distance. He knew that it was progress and that she was showing a lot of trust in him in order to be remaining in such a close proximity to him._

 _He soon began to flick through his cell phone, pulling up various videos to show her - often the videos would result in small bursts of laughter from the child. She was unaware of course that the eyes of the adults at the table were all on her - especially Angela's._

"Hey", he said quietly towards Allie Mai, "Would you like to come over with me and get a Cannoli?". As he asked the question, he tilted his head ever so slightly in the direction of the kitchen.

'Boon was crawling around on the floor, pushing a ball around and not taking too much notice of everyone else.

Alessandra looked over at the kitchen where Angela, Korsak, Frankie and Tommy all stood around the island. Angela and Korsak were moving over to the table, whilst the two men remained there as they selected their desserts. The child seem to observe the two men for a moment, analysing the possible dangers that she could face by going - it was clear that she was a little on edge by the way that her bright blue eyes darting around a little too quickly. She turned to Frost, and she shook her head slightly in a negative manner, "No, thank you", she whispered quietly and politely.

"Hmmm…", he said, contemplating what she had said for a moment along with her behaviour and body language that went along with her, "Would you like to wait until they've moved away first? Then we can go together and get some Cannolis, and we can even get some for Jane and Maura too. What do you think?"

Instantly, the little girl nodded, agreeing to go with him to get dessert - once the two men had vacated the kitchen.

Frost smiled, he felt quite proud that the child trusted him enough to go with him although slightly saddened at the thought that she was too nervous to go into the kitchen with the others in there too. It was yet another reminded to him, of what she had been through in her short lifetime.

It was not long before the two brothers had left the kitchen area and moved to sit at the dining room table with their mother, and Korsak.

When the area was cleared, Frost smiled and put his hand out to the little girl in order for her to take it if she wanted so that they could make their way over to their desserts set out on Maura's kitchen island. "You ready?", he asked Alessandra gently.

Alessandra took his hand with very little hesitation before standing up by pulling herself up using the physical connection of her tiny hand in his larger one.

Frost walked towards the counter in the kitchen whilst holding the little girl's hand carefully.

The tiny girl walked with 'Frosty' towards the kitchen, she was walking very closely to him and her eyes were darting around a little. She was clearly rather unsure in that moment.

Arriving in the kitchen, still in sight of the little girl's foster mothers, Frost put his arms out to the little girl to lift her up so that she could see.

Alessandra shook her head, letting go of his hand, she was not keen on the concept of the man lifting her up, and instead moved away from him.

For a moment, Frost was unsure whether he had upset the little girl but upon watching her, he realised that she simply had another idea to solve the issue of being too short to see above the counter.

The well dressed child moved around the kitchen island, and climbed up onto the enclosed step stool by sliding up the side of it first. Once she had climbed up onto the safety steps, she was then tall enough to be able to see. She did not speak but she simply grinned at Frost, as if to say 'look at me'.

Maura watched on with a smile, she found herself rather glad that she had purchased the set of enclosed steps as the safety of the little girl was paramount to both her and Jane.

Jane got up quickly and moved to the kitchen, grabbing a tea towel, "Hang on Turtle", she said softly, "We don't want you getting cream down your lovely dress do we?".

"Nope", Allie replied with a smile and standing still so that Jane could fix the tea towel to her by tucking it into the neckline of her dress.

She smiled and pressed a loving kiss to the child's head, "There", she said softly, "Much better, now you won't get all creamed up".

"But now I have a bib on", the little girl said with a small giggle.

Frost could not help but chuckle a little at that.

Jane smirked and shook her head, "No you don't", she said with a smile, making the little girl look confused with a slight tilt of her head, "You have a one of a kid posh dress covering, designed by the _brilliant_ BPD Designer Jane Rizzoli. So you don't have a bib, you have a 'Jane special'".

This made the little girl burst into giggles, clearly amused at the antics of the dark haired woman.

Her foster mother smiled and wrapped the child in her arms securely, holding her close and pressing another kiss to the top of Alessandra's curls.

Frost began to plate the desserts for not only himself but also Alessandra, Jane and Maura.

Meanwhile, Alessandra was leaning back against Jane whilst Jane happily held her close in a loving embrace with her head on the child's shoulder, Maura was sat on the sofa as she watched her lover, and her daughter together. Angela, Korsak, Frankie and Tommy were all sat at the dining room table as they spoke about random things, keeping the noise far below the usual 'Rizzoli' volume.

The desserts were taken over to the sofa and they gradually began to eat them.

The adults at the table, along with Frost who had joined them, had all eaten theirs and had rejoined the others in the living room. Jane had finished hers too, and along with her brothers and Frost - they were on their second helping of the delicious dessert. Maura had finished hers but had opted not to have a second helping of Cannoli due to its lack of health benefits.

Alessandra Mai Harmon was approximately three quarters of the way through hers when all of a sudden, the doorbell rang. The sound was rather loud as everybody had been eating their desserts quietly, even TJ or 'boon' had been rather quiet.

Suddenly, she dropped her plate and turned, curling into and clinging to Jane. She buried herself into the woman and hid her face beneath Jane's mass of curls.

Maura went to get up but Angela signalled to Maura for her to remain with Jane, and instead she herself went to the door - Frankie followed, standing back to see who it was.

Jane had quickly given her dessert to Frost who placed it on the coffee table, after he had (only just) managed to catch the child's plate and put that on the table too.

Alessandra was soon wrapped in a blanket, being held tightly by Jane who was speaking quietly to her in Italian to attempt to calm her. Maura was leaning into them both, with her arms wrapped around the child as well as Jane's.

A few minutes later, Angela returned to the living room with Frankie but also with another guest.

Amanda Giddish. The social worker that had been assigned to Alessandra when they were at the hospital on the day that she had been found. She had had a little contact with the family but mostly through phone calls and emails rather than visits as the little girl was going through enough, but also because Amanda was working on their case to process the adoption paperwork.

 _"Hello, my name is Amanda Giddish", she said with a soft smile, the woman was wearing a crisp black business suit with a white blouse beneath it along with black high heels. Amanda had blonde hair that reached just past her shoulders and she had bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle slightly in the light. She was wearing minimal makeup and wore a simple necklace with a singular pendant. "I am with Child Protective Services, I was called about a Miss Alessandra Mai Harmon", the woman explained in a professional and polite tone of voice although it was not clipped or careless but instead rather approachable and caring._

Jane's grip on the child became a little tighter as she held her closer, she remembered the last time that she had met the woman and the same emotions bubbled to the surface. Nobody was going to take her daughter away from her. Not now. Not ever.

 _The Detective watched her as the social worker nodded, her expression almost daring the woman to attempt to come closer. She looked like a Mamma Bear protecting her cub - and it was clear that nothing or no-one would get in her way to do that._

 _"Well it appears that you've had a wasted journey", Jane said, holding the little one close, "She isn't well enough to be leaving the hospital". It was Jane's way of also saying 'She isn't leaving my arms'._

 _The little one began to awake in the arms of the protective Detective and upon realising that two extra people were in the room, she curled up further towards the dark haired woman and gripped the material of her shirt much more harshly._

"It's okay, Detective", Amanda said with a smile, her blue eyes sparkling a little despite the lateness of the evening, her hair was still tied up professionally and despite it being a Sunday, she looked as if she had come straight from the office or courtroom, "I'm not here to take Alessandra from you", she reassured her.

 _Amanda smiled softly, despite the cold attitude she was getting from the Italian woman, "Relax Detective", she said softly, having been warned prior to her visit that the Detective would be very protective, "I think you are very much mistaken, I'm not here to take Alessandra"._

 _Jane frowned, clearly unsure as to whether or not to believe her, "Then why are you here?", she questioned as she rubbed her hand up and down the child's back in a soothing manner._

This time however, it was Frankie who spoke up, "If you're not here to take her, then why _are_ you here?".

"Please tell me you have good news", Jane mumbled as she held the child close to her.

The child was not visible from where Miss Giddish was stood, and she found herself smiling at the protective display of the decorated Detective as well as from the other family members. She knew that nobody would have the chance to take the child from the home, she smiled at how safe it was there for the child. She knew that she had made the right choice.

"As you know, Doctor Isles contacted me on New Year's Day to request that adoption paperwork be filed for Miss Alessandra Mai Harmon", Amanda Giddish said as she watched the reactions of both Jane and Maura.

 _The blonde woman smiled at the protective gestures that the woman was showing, "I received a call from Doctor Isles' and she requested that you were both wishing to become the legal guardians of Alessandra", she said quite happily. "Of course there is a lot of paperwork to go through but I was contacted by Doctor Isles' lawyer who has already begun proceedings for the two of you to adopt her"._

 _Jane's jaw almost dropped and she looked at her girlfriend in shock. Maura simply smiled in response._

"And I am sure that you remember me telling you it was being fast tracked so that she would not be required to go into a group home whilst the paperwork was being filled out and filed", the Social Worker continued.

 _"Of course that would mean that she would have to go into a group home until the proceedings are complete", Amanda explained, "Which is why I decided that I should come down to the hospital myself in order to bring you the documents necessary for you both to become foster parents. It would mean that Alessandra can leave the hospital and go directly into your care. I think it would be much more beneficial to her"._

For the second time, Jane nodded, everyone was listening very carefully to what the woman had to say, she wondered if it was the most captive audience that she had ever had - even in the courtroom or in meetings.

"Well", she said before pausing for a slightly dramatic effect, "I have come here today to tell you the great news".

Each member of the family was watching her with slightly widened eyes, well _almost_ as the topic of the conversation was still hidden under the blanket, buried into Jane and only just starting to peek over the top of the material, and between Jane's dark curls.

She pulled the paperwork from behind her back, a huge smile spreading across her face as she said the words, "She's yours", before handing the file over to Maura.

Maura took the folder, opening it and her jaw dropped slightly at the adoption certificate that was enclosed within it.

"You're serious?", Jane said, clearly excited and enthusiastic but wanting to double check that it was not some sort of unusual and horrid prank or joke, "She's ours?".

The blonde Social Worker nodded, "She's yours", she said simply, "I collected the certificates from the Judge's office today, I didn't want to wait until Monday and Maura told me that you were having a meal today so I thought it would be best to bring it over during your celebrations to make it… even more of a celebration".

The room erupted into cheers, happiness and celebration. The little one hid herself again.

"Guys", Jane said quickly, "I know we're all excited but we can celebrate quietly and then you can be as loud as you want when you've gone".

Almost instantly, the others went quiet and were miming their celebrations instead, something that Amanda found rather amusing.

"Our daughter doesn't like so much noise, do you?", the Italian woman said as she tugged the covering back slightly to look at the little one.

 _The Italian Detective nodded, "Thank you", she said softly, still in shock. She looked down at the little girl in her arms and cradled her closely, she reached a hand up to brush her hair from her face, "Did you hear that Allie?", she asked quietly._

 _Alessandra was silent, her bright blue eyes watching the Detective carefully but she only blinked once._

 _"She said that you can come home with us", Jane explained happily, "Would you like that?"._

 _The little one still remained silent, her expressive eyes observing the woman as her head tilted ever so slightly to the side. She nodded briefly and blinked but there was no verbal response at all. Not a single word slipped from the young child's lips._

"Did you hear that Allie?", she asked, asking the same question that she had at the start of the fostering and adoption process, "We get to keep you, you can stay with us".

Alessandra was silent but she was not as placid as she had been previously, this time she grinned brightly and wrapped her arms around both of the women who were now her adoptive parents rather than her foster carers.

Maura and Jane both wrapped the little one in their arms and held on tightly with tear filled eyes - happy tears.

They had not only found Little Alessandra Mai, and had the chance to look after her, but now they had the opportunity to raise her and love her. Forever.

 **A/N: Happy Valentines Day people!**

 **I apologise (yet again) for the update time. I have had an insane schedule at university - lectures, workshops, seminars, campaigns, assignments, exams, focus groups, field trip, and a ton of other stuff that I will not bore you with.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you so much for your kind review.**

 **Vbbneighbour - I am so glad that you are enjoying the story - thank you for reviewing.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for reviewing again. Yes, the next chapter will be back to the case details - however this past few chapters have been the weekend, as it is going in date order so the non-case days were just Saturday and Sunday. The next chapter will be set on a Monday so they will return to the interviews. The chapter will most likely be much longer as I do find them much easier to write.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for your review!**

 **Jo82 - It may be a long time before any proposal is done as the proposal concept was not in my original plan - I have extended the story and… well kept extending it. Does this thing even** _ **have**_ **an end?**

 **Rookie802 - Thank you for leaving a review.**

 **Tamtam86 - Thank you for your review, I am so glad that you are enjoying the story so far. I thought that considering that I am doing it in date order, that I needed to include the weekend in order to create a break in between the case interviews and that it would be a perfect opportunity to throw in a traditional Rizzoli Sunday dinner. The ideas for her outfits are random ideas that come to me then mixed with Google searches to find what my mind wants her clothing to look like - sometimes it is not the exact image that my mind creates but usually it is rather close. The majority of clothing that she wears is real and searchable. I quite enjoy picking out her clothing choices (as much as I imagine that Maura would I suppose). There will most likely be quite a lot of chapters before there is a proposal but I am looking at including one. I mean, who doesn't love a Rizzles proposal?**

 **Does anyone have any ideas as to what sort of proposal they would like to see happen? Do you want Jane to ask? Or Maura?**

 _ **Next Chapter: Chapter 40 - January 9th (Monday)**_


	40. Monday, January 9th - Part I

On Monday morning the sun was shining brightly in the sky and the excitement was still there from the night before, as both Maura and Jane had huge smiles on their faces as they awoke with their newly adopted daughter tucked in between them and safely in their arms.

Alessandra however did not fully comprehend the concept, she just knew that she could stay with them and that she would not have to ever return to the 'care' of 'Santa'.

The guys had gone out and celebrated the adoption at the Robber, whilst Jane and Maura opted to stay in with Allie, and Angela went to the guest house with a sleeping TJ.

When they were all awake, Jane suggested that they go to the precinct for breakfast instead and to eat in the cafe where her mother worked.

Alessandra was wearing _Miss Blumarine Beige Flower & Leopard Print Jacquard Skirt_ which was a fully lined, full box pleated skirt, it was paired with a long sleeve butterscotch beige top. She was also wearing her _Butterscotch Beige Tights With Bows,_ which were a pale set of cotton tights with pink and beige grosgrain bows attached to the exterior sides of the ankles. On her feet were _Andanines Junior Girls Patent Beige Scalloped Edge Mary Jane Shoes,_ and to top off the outfit, she was wearing a _Large Dotty Daydreams Girls Natural Leopard Bow Hair clip_ in her hair along with a _Pop Cutie BFF Gingerbread Man & Biscuit Necklace. _To keep her warm, her adoptive parents had put her warm, fluffy cream coat on her with her matching scarf, hat and gloves.

Jane could not help but laugh and shake her head, trust her girlfriend to be dressing their child up as if she were a designer doll. She had to smile however, as she did find it highly adorable - both the huge smile on Maura's face when the outfit was completed, and the adorable looking child that stood in front of her.

It did not take them long before they arrived at the precinct, as they walked into the cafe, Alessandra was in Jane's arms - she was still rather nervous with the amount of people that were around her, and she knew that the safest place was in the Detective's arms where nobody would attempt to touch her like they had done previously. The excitement was still there of seeing the rescued child safe and sound, however that was not a concept that the little girl understood - she just thought that they were crazy, it was that simple.

Maura had Jo's lead in her hand as they walked into the cafe, her spare hand was securely within the grip of the Detective beside her, and her smile was spread across her face as she happily walked through the precinct with her girlfriend and newly adopted daughter.

Angela called out to them upon the moment that she saw them and made her way straight over to them. She embraced Maura first and then turned to Allie and Jane, "Can I have a hug from my _favourite_ granddaughter?", she asked softly.

"I thought I was your only one", she replied with a slightly tilted head and a look of confusion on her face.

Jane laughed, "She's got you there Ma", she said with amusement.

After a few moments of talking, Angela made her way back to the counter to start making pancakes for them. The two women and their adopted daughter went and sat down at one of the tables not far from the cafe counter and kitchen.

The three of them sat together at the table, eating the bunny shaped pancakes that Angela had made for them, and every now and then when it was not as busy, Angela would join them to talk for a while. Jane had taken Allie's coat from her and placed it on the back of the chair, and each adult had done the same with theirs too. Angela had given Jane a fresh tea towel to go on Alessandra to keep her clothing from getting covered in the chocolate syrup that was painted across her freshly made pancakes.

"Are you ready to go and see Doctor Kingston now?", Jane asked softly once they had finished their breakfast.

Alessandra was sat comfortably on Maura's lap, slouching back with a full stomach, and she nodded in confirmation, "I can't eat anymore", the little one said softly, "I'm going to explode".

"Let's go then Turtle", Jane said gently as she stood up and put her arms out to the little one.

Instantly, Alessandra went straight into the arms of adoptive mother before snuggling into the dark haired woman.

Maura stood up and wrapped her arms around both her girlfriend, and their daughter. The Medical Examiner smiled brightly, and her eyes sparkled with joy as she enjoyed an embrace with her little family. To her, it was perfection. She had everything that she wanted. Her dream job. The woman she loved. And now? A beautiful daughter too.

Jane carried Alessandra through the hallways of the precinct towards the interview rooms, and she held onto Maura's hand as they walked. Officers stepped out of the way, no longer attempted to converse with the child as they had done previously. They had learned the hard way that Detective Rizzoli did not want them to - the child simply was not ready for such enthusiastic greetings yet.

"Good Morning", Doctor Melody Kingston said happily with a bright smile as soon as she noticed the three of them approaching.

The two women greeted Melody in return, whilst the little girl simply smiled in the direction of the smiling FBI Psychologist.

"Would you like to play for a while in the room?", the blonde, curly haired woman asked politely.

Alessandra thought about it for a moment, glancing over towards the door before returning her focus to the woman in front of her, and nodding, "Yes please", she replied softly, and quietly.

"Well, in that case, you can go in and I will be in soon", Melody said with an encouraging smile painted upon her face.

Jane and Maura both made their way into the interview room with Alessandra still remaining, quite happily perched on the Detective's hip with the woman's arm wrapped around her securely.

Detective Rizzoli knelt down with the child in her arms and gently placed her on the floor before removing Allie's coat and placing it onto the back of a chair, along with her own.

Maura carefully placed hers with theirs too, all three coats were out of the way and off of the floor. It was warm enough in the room that the coats were not needed, they had put them back on to go through the precinct but that was only so that they would not need to carry them and so that the little girl could hie beneath her own coat and within Jane's as they travelled through the hallways of the precinct.

Doctor Isles brushed down her skirt with both of her hands, as if imaginary lint was stuck to the material. Alessandra mimicked her, brushing down her own skirt - she figured that it was what she was supposed to do to her skirt. Jane had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing at the behaviour, Maura however simply smiled.

Alessandra looked around the lemon yellow painted room, looking at each of the items and deciding what to play with this time.

"What would you like to do Allie?", Jane asked calmly in the almost clinical looking room with no windows and the only light being the ones shining from the ceiling.

The child looked over at her adoptive mother who was crouched down on the floor beside her, "Can we draw?", she asked quietly.

Noting the use of the word 'we', Jane nodded, "Of course we can", she said with a smile, making sure to repeat the word back to her, and make sure that the little girl knew that they were not going anywhere.

Alessandra had become more comfortable with the environment of the 'play room' over the short period of time that she had been 'visiting' it, however she was still a little nervous initially, so when she went to walk over to the table that contained the paper and art supplies, she instantly took hold of Jane's hand and tugged her over with her.

Jane stood up straight away, and holding onto her daughter's hand, she moved to the table and knelt down beside it.

Maura Isles sat down beside her on the floor, she expected Allie to take up residence in the lap of the Detective, however the child surprised her by opting to sit in her lap instead. The honey blonde woman wrapped her arms around the child, holding her close and kissing the top of her head in a maternalistic manner.

Alessandra Mai smiled happily as she leaned back into the Medical Examiner before pulling pieces of paper towards them, for each of them to draw. She also tugged the basket of crayons closer so that they were easier to reach.

Jane was more than happy to be sat drawing with a multitude of colours, it reminded her of being a child. She used her spare hand to stroke Jo who was lying down beneath the table in front of her.

Maura started to draw too, shortly after seeing the other two starting, she was however a little more awkward at it as she was attempting to hold the child in her lap at the same time.

When Melody Kingston returned to them, and entered the room, Allie had managed to draw a house with two women, a little girl, a tortoise, and a dog. The sun was shining, and the colours were bright - the Psychologist noted the use of colour, and could not help but smile at the change.

"Are you having fun there Alessandra?", Melody asked with a smile.

Allie nodded, "I like drawing", she replied simply without looking up.

"So do I", the woman replied, "It is rather fun isn't it?".

Alessandra nodded in response to what the English woman had said to her.

"What are you drawing?", Dr Kingston asked gently.

"This is the house", the little girl said as she pointed to the brown square with the brown triangle lying on top of it, and four squares drawn inside the larger square along with a small rectangle.

The Psychologist was listening very attentively, nodding as she watched the child.

"This is Maura", Alessandra continued, "See? She's wearing a Doctor's coat, because she's a Doctor", the child seemed quite happy with that idea, as she had a smile on her face. "She has a book in her hand because Jane says that Maura is a genius, the most clever person that she has ever met".

 _Alessandra was stood in Maura's office, she was looking at the certificates on the wall as well as the large quantity of books on the shelves._

" _It's amazing isn't it?", Jane said quietly._

 _Allie nodded in response as she read the certificates._

 _Jane smiled, "They're all Maura's", she confirmed, "She's a genius, you know?"._

 _The child of course shook her head, she had obviously not known that until that very moment._

" _She is the most clever person that I have ever known", Jane said as she crouched down beside the young girl, "Sometimes I just can't believe how amazing she is"._

 _Alessandra smiled as she moved to position herself in Jane's arms._

Maura blushed a little at the revelation.

"It's true", Jane confirmed making Allie smile.

"What else is in your drawing?", Melody asked, encouraging the little girl to continue speaking about her drawing.

"This is Jane", Alessandra said with a bright smile, "See she has a gold badge, handcuffs, and a gun. That's so that she can catch the bad guys and safe the world".

"And what about the red behind them?", Doctor Kingston asked softly.

Alessandra smiled, "That's their superhero capes of course", she responded, "Superheroes need capes".

The Psychologist nodded with a smile, "Of course, how could I forget?".

Jane found herself staring at the child's drawing of herself, _a superhero_ , she could not help but think about what that meant, and her mind went back to the conversation that she had had with her girlfriend about superheroes.

 _Maura covered her mouth, "That little girl says you're a superhero", she said softly before removing her hand, "She believes it and you know why she believes it? Because she was told over and over that you were the one that would find her, you were the one that would rescue her". Her reasoning was based on what Allie had said on the footage and how much she had clearly been 'convinced' to say what she did, "Jane, that is exactly what you did, you saved her… and you're protecting her", she reminded her, "You make her feel safe and she already knows that you were searching for her. That you wanted her"._

 _"But…", Jane tried again._

 _"No Jane", Maura said firmly, "Look at Allie… she believes in you Jane and that is what makes you a superhero"._

 _Jane looked down at the little one and felt her heart swell metaphorically._

 _"You need to get used to that Jane", Maura said softly, "You need to get used to the fact that your daughter will always see you as a superhero"._

 _A smile spread across Jane's face as tears flowed down her cheeks but this time not out of sadness, she finally understood what Maura was trying to say. It was not grand gestures like flying through the sky to catch a falling woman or swinging from building to building to capture a super villain but instead it was as simple as protecting the ones you love and making them feel safe. She felt proud to be her (soon-to-be) daughter's superhero._

Alessandra giggled a little at Melody's response, before continuing, "That's me in the middle", she said with a smile as she pressed her finger down lightly on the crayon drawing, "Then that's Jo, and that is Bass". "Jane says Bass is a turtle, and that if I call him a turtle instead of a tortoise then I get candy", the little girl revealed.

Maura looked in Jane's direction with a raised eyebrow, but said nothing.

Jane offered a grin instead before nudging Allie, "Hey", she whispered, "That was a secret".

The little girl's eyes went wide, "Uh Oh", she said quietly before turning back to Melody, "You've got to pretend that you didn't hear what I said, okay?".

Melody smiled brightly and nodded, "Consider it forgotten".

Alessandra sighed in relief, "It's okay now Jane", she said with a smile, not realising that it was the woman behind her who was unimpressed with the concept, and not the one in front of her.

"I heard that you have some good news to tell me Alessandra", the Child Psychologist said softly.

The little one looked a little confused.

"It was something that happened yesterday", Melody said softly, to attempt to help her.

Maura and Jane were smiling brightly behind her.

Alessandra thought for a moment, "We had Gnocchi and Cannoli, and lots of people came over", she said with a smile, thinking it was that.

Melody chuckled and shook her head, "No, it isn't that, although I bet that was fun, wasn't it?".

The child nodded with a smile, "It was quite fun, 'boon got in a lot of mess and put food everywhere so Jane was worried that I would get my dress all dirty, but I didn't because I'm not little like 'boon".

"'Boon is Jane's nephew, he's only a year old", Maura said softly, providing information that she knew that the woman did not know, in order for it to make a little more sense, "His name is TJ".

"But he told me it's 'boon, so now it's 'boon", Alessandra said with a smile.

Melody smiled, "Well it is always good to call people by the name they choose, isn't it?", agreeing with the concept, and understanding that the child would most likely grow out of it and go back to wanting to be called TJ at a later date".

Alessandra nodded with a smile but did not verbally respond to what the woman had said to her.

"Do you remember what Amanda brought to your house last night?", Melody asked softly.

The little girl thought for a moment before nodding, "Lots of paper", she replied.

Melody laughed, and nodded, "She did, do you remember what the papers were for?".

"They were so that I could stay with Jane and Maura", Alessandra said softly, it was clear that it had not registered with her that it was forever, she was not fully comprehending what had happened to her family, more importantly, what had happened to her parents. The night was still not fully clear in her mind, she was still unaware of what she had truly seen that night. She did not understand that the red on the floor was spilled blood, not spilled paint.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "That's right, they were adoption papers", she said softly.

The little girl did not reply but instead opted to simply listen.

"What do you think of that?", she asked softly.

Maura and Jane listened carefully, her response on the night had not been that revealing.

 _Maura hugged the little girl tightly, "Do you know what this means? This means that you can live here with us", she said with a very happy smile._

 _Alessandra smiled but did not speak._

 _The theme continued as the conversation of the adoption papers continued. Alessandra would simply smile, or snuggle into one of the two women._

Alessandra, much like the previous night, did not say anything.

"Do you think it's a good thing? Or a bad thing?", Melody prompted.

The little girl thought for a moment, "A good thing", she said quietly.

"Why do you think it's a good thing?", the woman said in a pristine English accent.

Alessandra Mai was sat thinking for a moment, she turned to look at each of the two women behind her, one at a time, before turning her attention back to Melody, "I get to stay with superheroes and I get to stay with Jo, and Bass".

Jo gave a small 'woof' from beneath the table, making the child giggle before she reached down to stroke Jo's soft fur. The dog responded with a lick to the child's hand.

"I also get to sleep upstairs instead of the basement, it's warmer upstairs you know?", Alessandra said softly.

Maura rested her head on the top of Allie's and Jane ran her hand up and down the Medical Examiner's back.

Melody nodded to show that she was listening, and following what the child was telling her but did not verbally interrupt.

"And I have really pretty clothes", she said looking down at her outfit, "Maura picks the best things, she chooses princess clothes all the time".

Jane smiled and pressed a kiss to the side of Maura's head.

"But do you know what the best thing of all is?", Alessandra asked Melody.

Melody shook her head, "No, I don't", she replied, "What is the best thing?".

Alessandra leaned back a little more, snuggling into the two women behind her at an angle, "Safe and warm".

The three women found themselves smiling, adoption had been summed up with three words; 'safe and warm'.

"Now, do you remember that last time you were here, I showed you a photo and then you were telling me about the woman in the photo?", Melody asked the child gently.

 _Detective Jane Rizzoli and Doctor Maura Isles were both silent as Doctor Melody Kingston opened the file on the table. Maura kept her arms wrapped around Alessandra's waist to reassure her whilst Jane had her hand on Maura's thigh beside Allie's leg. Jo sat patiently and quietly on Jane's lap._

 _The first picture was of a woman who had dark hair, she appeared to be in her mid-thirties and she was wearing a pair of dark jeans with a strappy light blue top along with a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like a heart although it was only the outline of the shape and it had a small diamond at the top left side of the heart._

 _"Do you recognise this woman?", Melody asked the little girl opposite her, gently._

 _Alessandra nodded as she looked at the photo of the woman who was posed sat on a large branch of a tree within what appeared to be a large park with a substantial amount of grass area behind her._

 _Melody observed the child's behaviour as she questioned her, "Do you remember her name?", she asked, wanting to start off with 'easier' questions._

 _The curly haired child nodded, "Lauren", she said softly, "Lauren Shepard… like the people who look after sheep". Her comment about the last name made Melody smile, the child's memory seemed very good but that could be explained by her impressive IQ scores which Melody was already aware of. Melody knew that multiple things could help a person remember and one of them was affiliation such as the link between the woman's name and 'Shepherds'._

Alessandra nodded, "Lauren", she replied simply.

Melody nodded in return, "That's right, we were looking at Lauren's photo", she said with a small smile, "I have more photos to show you, would it be okay if you were to look at another today?".

The little girl nodded with a smile, she did not see the significance of the photos or of the questions she was being asked, because of one important fact. She didn't know they were dead. She didn't know that they had been murdered. She thought they had simply 'gone away'.

Doctor Kingston pushed a folder forward, into the middle of the table after moving the colouring things to the side, and out of the way. "This is a different photo", she said before opening it, and pushing it closer to the little girl, "Do you know who that is?".

The photo was of a woman in her early 40s with dark hair and brown eyes, she had long hair that went just down past her shoulders and it was slightly curly at the bottom. She was wearing a straw summer hat along with a light blue dress, her feet were bare and she was sat on a towel on the beach with a view of the sea behind her. Around her neck was a small cross shaped pendant.

Alessandra tilted her head a little as she looked at it, "Kat", she said with a soft smile, "Her name is Katherine but she likes to be called Kat".

Melody nodded with a smile, "That's right", she said gently, "Her name is Katherine Delaney".

 _A 41 year old woman who was identified as Mrs Katherine Delaney. This woman also had dark hair but hers was braided. The braids appeared to have been done poorly which indicated that a child had done them. She had a child's clip in her hair which was light blue with a white butterfly on it. Fingerprints were found on the clip which matched the missing child._

"Do you remember anything about when you first met her?", Melody asked as she observed the child's body language and facial expressions during the interview.

Alessandra was sat in silence for a moment as she attempted to remember something, anything from the day that she met the woman, and as she attempted to extract the information from her memory, she continued to stare intently at the photograph in front of her.

The three adults in the room did not interrupt her, they simply gave her time in order to organise her thoughts, and to feel comfortable to say what she needed to and wanted to say.

 **Behind the glass, eyes were watching and ready to be taking note of what was being said, ensuring that they could use the information provided to provide answers to the many questions that they all had about the case.**

 **Agent Derrick Jackson was still heading the case, as he had done throughout the FBI's involvement - much to Jane's dismay. The tall, dark haired man was stood near the glass with his arms crossed over his chest, whilst wearing a dark suit, and pastel blue shirt with a dark blue tie.**

 **Beside him was Agent Jennifer Summers whose straight blonde hair was pulled up into an intricate yet professional updo, her sapphire earrings and necklace both highlighted the colour of her eyes, and she wore a black knee length skirt with a simple white blouse with elbow length sleeves. Her black heels made her taller than what she was but she still did not reach the height of her almost six foot tall boss.**

 **To the side was the other FBI team member; Agent Shemar Morgan who was dressed a little more casually than the other two, however he always did. He was wearing a wine coloured buttoned top with black trousers, and was leaning back against a table that resided in the observation room.**

 **Inside the room with the three agents were Frost and Korsak who had only just arrived, they knew that they would not be able to sit in on all of the interviews if they were called to another case but this was still technically classified as their case, as it had become a joint one with the FBI after Jane's continuous interference.**

"She was there when I woke up", the little girl said eventually.

 _Hoyt opened the door to the basement and yelled down to the child, "Allie!", his voice boomed, echoing throughout the dirty, cold, and damp room, "Get up here!"._

 _Alessandra awoke with a start, and as soon as she heard the command, she began to scramble out of the hole that she called a 'bed', knowing that if she did not do as he said quickly enough then she would be in trouble with 'Santa'._

" _Hurry up!", the aging man shouted, "I have someone for you to meet"._

 _The curly haired child ran up the stairs, worried that she would not be quick enough for his liking._

 _The cruel man grabbed hold of her and tugged her into the living room by the material of her tattered and dirty pink dress, "This is Katherine", he said with a sadistic tone, "She's going to be staying with us for a while"._

 _Little Allie saw no danger in this, she did not understand that the woman that was currently sat on the sofa did not wish to be there._

"Santa shouted for me", Alessandra continued, "He woke me up because he was so loud, so I ran up the stairs and when I got into the front room, she was on the sofa". "He said that she was going to be staying with us for a while", she continued, "And she stayed with us for lots of nights". In reality it was approximately three weeks that the woman stayed with them, as there was a three week time difference between the day that she went missing, and the day that she was found on the side of the highway.

 _Katherine Delaney smiled softly, her mascara had run down her face, leaving black trail marks down them, and her eyes were a little pink where she had been crying. The woman was wearing black jeans, high heels, and a red coat with a red blouse beneath it which had ruffles down the centre of it._

" _Why are you upset?", the little girl asked as she stepped forward, her hand coming up to brush a tear from the woman's cheek, as a result of this she managed to get mascara on her fingers._

" _I… I", the woman stumbled, not knowing what to say, "I fell over", she said as she pointed at her knees which were covered in dirt along with her jacket. It was true, she did fall over, but only because she was pushed._

"She was crying", the little girl said with a sigh as she looked down at the photo.

"Do you remember why she was crying?", Melody asked carefully, knowing herself why a kidnapped woman might be crying.

Alessandra nodded, "She said she fell over", she said before explaining in more detail, "She had dirt on her trousers and on her coat too. Her coat was bright red, I really liked it".

 _Alessandra frowned as she stepped forward, and she instantly wrapped the woman in a hug, "It's okay", she said softly, comforting her in a way only a child could._

 _Katherine wrapped the little girl in her arms, holding her close to her, despite not knowing the child, it was her instinct to try and protect her. She did not know who the child was or if she belonged here. She knew nothing of her, but she knew that she needed protecting._

" _My name is Alessandra, but you can call me Allie", she said with a smile, although the last part was whispered as if it were a secret._

 _Hoyt had wandered off to the kitchen to get a drink, his accomplice was sat in the kitchen at the dirty table as he drank a beer from the can in his hand._

 _Katherine smiled, as brightly as she could in that moment at the child, "That's a very pretty name Allie", she said softly, "My name is Katherine but you may call me Kat if you'd like?"._

 _Allie nodded, "Kat", she repeated._

"Then I told her my name, and I said that she could call me Allie", the little girl said with a small smile, "Then she told me hers and said that I was allowed to call her Kat, kind of like the animal but spelled differently".

"Do you remember what happened after you met her?", Melody prompted after the little girl had been silent for a while.

The curly haired girl continued with her silence for a moment before responding, "We had to go back into the basement, and Santa gave us dinner".

"What did you have for dinner?", the woman asked with a look of interest.

She thought for a moment about the question that the Psychologist had asked her, and she bit her lip lightly as she tried to think about what they had eaten that day, "We had some cold pizza", she said before cringing.

"Was it not nice?", Melody asked as she based her question on the facial expressions that had accompanied the answer that she had been given.

 _Kat scrunched her face up a little at the 'dinner' that they had been given, the almost empty pizza box had a few pieces of cold pizza left inside of it, it was clear that they had been given the leftovers from the dinner that the men had had._

" _You've got to eat it, he'll get mad if we don't", Allie said as she nudged the woman, "But eat it slowly because we might not get anymore"._

" _You mean anymore today?", Kat asked with curiosity._

 _Alessandra nodded, "Or tomorrow", she replied with a shrug, "Sometimes he forgets"._

 _Katherine looked a little shocked at this revelation._

" _Don't worry, I have a hiding place for food, so we can put some of it there", she said with a smile. She got up and moved over to a corner before pulling out a partially eaten bag of Bugles chips, half of a chocolate bar, along with a bottle of orange juice, and a sauce packet of tomato ketchup._

 _Katherine watched as the child brought the food over to them._

" _Would you like ketchup with your pizza?", she asked as she offered the packet of sauce to the woman._

 _The woman looked at the rather gross looking pizza, before turning to the child and nodding, "Yes please". Kat took the sauce packet carefully from the child and squeezed its contents out onto the interior of the cardboard lid of the greasy pizza box with the idea that the two of them could share the small serving of sauce._

 _Alessandra put the orange juice in front of them and then returned the other two items to the hiding place._

 _Katherine waited for the little girl to return, whilst keeping a close eye on the child - almost a protective motion._

 _When she returned, she sat back down on the dirt floor beside the recently arrived (or in reality recently kidnapped) woman, she picked up a piece and took a bite out of it straight away._

 _Kat took a bite of hers, it seemed rather spicy to her as it appeared to be some form of a meat feast._

 _However, as Allie began to chew a mouthful of her slice, her face began to screw up at an increasing rate._

 _The woman looked rather concerned as she leaned forward and put her hand on the child's back in a reassuring manner, "Are you okay?"._

 _Allie shook her head, and then proceeded to spit it out on an empty section of the cardboard box, far away from the sauce and gross tasting pizza._

" _Do you not like it?", she asked the child gently._

 _Again, Allie shook her head, "No", she mumbled, worried that she would now get into trouble._

" _How about, I pull off the toppings for you, then you can eat the base?", Katherine suggested, "You could go and get chips, then you can eat those too"._

Alessandra shook her head in a negative fashion, "It was gross and spicy so Kat pulled the toppings off so that I could just eat the bread part", she explained, "Kat ate the toppings, and I ate my Bugles chips". "I had chips, some chocolate, some tomato ketchup, and some orange juice hidden", Alessandra said with a smile, "You should always hide food, because then if you get hungry and you aren't allowed any more then you have some secret supplies to go back to".

"Do you always hide food?", Doctor Kingston asked cautiously.

The little girl nodded, ever so slightly.

"Do you hide food where you live now?", Melody asked softly, "With Jane and Maura?".

Reluctantly, the little girl nodded.

Melody could see how hesitant the little girl was to admit it, most likely because she was worried that someone would take away her stash, wherever it may be.

Jane and Maura looked at each other with slight confusion as they had not been aware of this. Both were wondering how they had managed to miss it.

"Would you be willing to tell us where?", Melody asked, knowing that the answer was most likely going to be 'no'.

Alessandra looked at the woman and shook her head before whispering, "It's a secret".

"Can you tell me what you have hidden?", she asked with a gentle smile.

The little girl thought about it for a moment before nodding, "I have some pancake, some Gnocchi, a piece of Cannoli, some orange juice, some strawberries, and a piece of pizza", she said softly.

"That's a lot", Melody commented.

"Oh, actually", the little girl said quickly, "I don't have the pizza anymore or the pancake because Jo ate them".

Jane could not help but laugh at the fact that Jo ate them, "Well, she does like to steal food", she commented.

Maura was far too busy being grossed out by the concept that there was food hidden somewhere in her home and possibly producing all kinds of bacterium".

"Allie", Jane said softly towards the child, taking both of her hands into hers carefully, "You don't need to do that anymore, not with us". "Whenever you're hungry, you can have food", she continued, "We won't get mad at you or tell you that you can't".

"Really?", the child asked with a slightly tilted head.

"Really", Jane said softly, "Have you had to eat out of your secret stash yet?".

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she replied.

Jane smiled, "Why is that?", she asked gently.

"Because I'm always so full", the little girl replied, "If I eat from my stash, I'd explode".

"How about, when we get home, then you can show Maura and I where it is?", Jane asked with a kind smile, "We can throw it out, and whenever you're hungry then you can go to the fridge instead, okay?".

Alessandra seemed to contemplate the concept for a moment, "That sounds like a good idea, because Jo keeps stealing food, and Bass stole a strawberry from my last hiding place", she said softly, before dramatically adding, "I'm running out of places Jane".

Jane laughed softly, before pressing a soft kiss to the little girl's forehead.

"Alessandra?", Melody said softly, "Do you remember anything else about Katherine… I mean Kat?", she was attempting to pull them back onto the topic of the kidnapped and murdered forty one year old woman.

The little girl sat there for a moment in silence as she contemplated the question that had been posed to her, she tugged her lip into her mouth slightly and gently chewed on it as she tried to remember.

"She let me braid her hair", the blue eyed child said with a smile, "Her hair was really long, so it was fun to braid, and sometimes I would put my clips in her hair too".

 _Alessandra was kneeling up on the dirt floor of the basement with Katherine sat in front of her, the little girl was braiding the woman's long, dark hair as neatly as she possibly could._

" _You're doing really well Allie", the captive woman said in a soft tone with a small smile, despite the fact that the child could not see her face. It had been two weeks since she had been violently kidnapped by the monster who was sat on the sofa on the floor above them at that precise moment. Looking after the little girl was the only positive thing that she could focus on, she was waiting for a chance to escape with the child, but the chance had not arisen at all as they were never alone with an escape route._

 _The blue eyed girl smiled happily at the praise that the woman had given her, and she carefully tied up the braid with a small hair band, before starting on another braid._

Alessandra smiled softly at the memory of braiding the woman's hair.

"So, you liked braiding her hair?", Melody prompted casually with a smile.

She nodded with a smile in return, "It was fun", she repeated quietly.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "Did you braid her hair a lot?", she asked gently, knowing that she had to go with what the child's line of thought and what she wanted to talk about instead.

Allie nodded, "Yes", she responded simply, "It was quite boring in the basement so she would let me braid her hair". "She let me braid her hair when she had to go home too", the little girl revealed.

" _I… I have to go", Katherine said quietly, stumbling a little with her words as she knelt down in front of Alessandra on the floor of the basement. She had just gotten back downstairs, and had returned with a red mark on her face._

" _Why?", the little girl asked, not wanting the woman to leave her, "What happened to your face?"._

 _Kat flinched when the child reached up and touched her cheek, even though she had done it so gently, "I walked into something", she lied._

" _You walked into someone's hand?", she questioned with a frown as she examined the hand-shaped print on the woman's cheek._

 _The woman looked down and said nothing for a moment before looking back up again, "I have to leave tonight, I have to go home"._

" _Oh…", the child replied simply as she looked down at the floor._

 _Katherine wrapped her arms around the child and held her closely, unsure as to what to say._

" _Can I braid your hair?", Alessandra asked her, reaching up to twirl a bit of Katherine's hair in her hand._

 _The dark haired woman nodded and managed to give a smile to the child, trying to act 'normal' in front of her rather than the truth which was that she was in fact terrified. She had already been told by Alessandra that there had been a woman in the house before, but that she had 'gone home'. The innocent child was unaware of the significance of that piece of information, or what it meant._

 _Alessandra braided the woman's hair as neatly as she could, although in reality it was still quite poorly done as it had strands sticking out in random places and it was not consistent either. She removed the blue hairclip from her own hair, and she slid it into the woman's hair, "Here", she said softly, "You can keep this so that you never forget me"._

 _Katherine reached up her hand and touched the clip, knowing that it was a light blue with white butterflies on it, "Thank you", she said softly, "I will treasure it, and I promise I will never forget you"._

 _Alessandra smiled brightly._

" _Could you help me? Could you get your finger..", Katherine said softly, showing her by putting her index finger out as if pointing, "...and push down on the clip so that it stays in?"._

 _The little girl did it straight away, she had no idea that what the woman was really doing was getting the child's fingerprint onto the clip._

 _Katherine Delaney knew that day that she was not going to live, she knew that she was not going home, and she knew that someday her body would be found. That fingerprint on that sole clip would be the only link to the child who she now knew did not belong in that home. She had been told the story of how 'Santa' took her on Christmas Eve, the little girl did not fully understand what had actually happened to her, but Kat did. Kat understood._

"She had to go home too", the little girl said with a rather heavy sigh, "Just like Lauren did, but Lauren didn't have a hand on her face like Kat did".

"A hand?", Melody questioned with slight confusion, although the confusion did not show through into her voice or facial expressions.

Alessandra nodded, "She had a handprint on her face", she said quietly, "I think someone slapped her… I think 'Santa' did it".

"What makes you think Santa did it?", Melody asked the little girl.

Allie shrugged, "He pushed Lauren around a lot, and he pushed Kat too… sometimes he would hit them, and sometimes I could hear them crying upstairs if I wasn't asleep".

Maura bit her lip, and she looked up towards the ceiling to prevent tears falling from her beautiful hazel eyes.

Jane kept her hand pressed against the Medical Examiner's lower back.

Jo was fast asleep under the table with her head on Allie's feet.

"Before she went home, she let me braid her hair again", the little girl said with a smile, "And I let her keep my butterfly hair clip too, so that she wouldn't forget me".

 _Maura was stood in the autopsy room, Katherine Delaney's body was lying on her autopsy table and covered with only a white sheet, whilst only her head was showing._

 _The photos had been taken, and the majority of the evidence had been removed from the body, but there was just one thing left._

 _A blue hairclip, decorated with white butterflies._

 _Looking at the messy braids, and the hairclip with the sticky fingerprint on it, Maura whispered softly, "She did your hair didn't she?", as if the woman would respond._

 _Carefully, she removed the clip from the woman's hair and examined the fingerprint beneath the microscope - it was a visual match to the child's. She photographed it, and removed the fingerprint to do a computer analysis._

 _Once she had completed the autopsy, she redid the braids in the woman's hair and placed the clip back into position, "She clearly wanted you to have it", Doctor Isles said quietly._

 _She had no idea that Jane was behind her._

" _Thank you Katherine", she said softly, "You managed to get her fingerprint for us, I'm sorry that we couldn't help you". This case was putting pressure on everyone in the department, not only was the four year old child missing, but bodies were starting to appear again._

 _A month after the Harmon murders and kidnapping, Lauren Shepard had been found along the highway. The school teacher had been missing for three weeks before her body was found abandoned._

 _A few weeks later, it was Katherine Delaney's body that was found - it seemed that upon killing his female victim, he would replace her rather quickly, as if finding a 'new mother' each time for the child before getting rid of them when he himself was bored of them or just wanted to have some sadistic 'fun' with them._

"Is there anything else that you remember about Katherine Delaney?", Melody asked the child.

"She works at _Franklin Park Zoo_ ", Alessandra said with a smile, using present tense as she was unaware that the woman did not work there any longer, she did not know that the woman had not been alive for very long after leaving that basement, "She looks after the Giraffes".

" _What do you work as?", the little girl asked with a smile, "My Mammina, she teaches at BCU, kind of like Lauren, but Lauren teaches little ones like me"._

" _I work with the Giraffes at Franklin Park Zoo", Katherine said with a smile_ , _clearly, she rather liked her career._

" _That's so cool!", the child declared instantly with a huge smile before asking her multiple questions about the animals - she was genuinely interested in everything that the woman was willing to tell her, and she was soaking up each and every piece of information._

"She told me all about the Giraffes", Allie said with excitement.

"That sounds really good", Melody confirmed with a smile.

"She has a niece called Daisy", she randomly said, as she tried to remember any fact that she could about the woman who had stayed in the basement with her, "I remember because it's like the duck in the Mickey Mouse stories".

The three women smiled at the fact that they had been given.

" **Katherine Delaney was supposed to collect twelve year old Daisy Jade Montgomery on February 4th last year from** _ **Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School**_ **but she never arrived", Vince Korsak said as he stood in the observation room with the others, "It was Daisy that raised the alarm that her aunt was in trouble".**

" **I thought it was the sister that reported her as missing?", Agent Derrick Jackson said with a slightly confused looking frown upon his face.**

 **Frost shook his head, "Daisy told the teachers but the teachers didn't take her seriously", he revealed, "They thought she was just being dramatic and that the woman was simply running late or that she had forgotten". "When the mother was contacted two hours later, she had been at work at the hospital at the time", the man continued, "It was Daisy who then originally called BPD, but her mother took over the phone call when the young girl became too distressed".**

" **The mother hadn't known that the girl was calling the police until she heard part of the phone call from another part of the hallway in the school", Korsak said, providing a little bit more information.**

" **Our team believe that she may have been taken on the way to the school, she was seen leaving her house at 82 Devon Street by a neighbour, but despite the fact that it should have only taken her just over five minutes to walk to the school entrance", Agent Shemar Moore paused for a moment, "She never made it".**

 **Korsak nodded, "We came to the same conclusion", he stated, "Her bag was found a few days later in a patch of bushes by two teenage boys who had been playing soccer in the street nearby, and the ball had gone into the bushes". "They recognised Ms Delaney's photo on her driving license and took it straight to the precinct", he said as he watched the child through the glass pane.**

"Do you remember anything else that happened when she was staying with you?", the English Psychologist asked the child cautiously.

Alessandra looked down at the photo of the woman and thought about it for a moment.

Maura kept her arms securely around the little girl, holding her safely in her arms, and comforting her discreetly.

"One day, we were allowed to go outside at night time", Allie said softly, "Santa told us we had to go out there with him, and Curtis stayed inside". "We sat by the bonfire and I was even allowed to put sticks on the fire like I did with Papa when he took us all camping", she revealed, and paused before continuing, "When we got back to the basement though, Curtis had been digging, he said he had to bury hidden treasure".

"Do you know what that treasure was?", Melody asked, wondering what the child knew about it.

" **We found multiple bodies buried in the basement, estimating based on the time period, we believe that the 'treasure' she is referring to is in fact the body of Ruby Esperanza", Agent Derrick Jackson stated, "She was seventeen years old and went missing when she was on her way to the mall to meet with friends". "She was seen on security footage on the bus but after getting off, she vanished", he continued, "We were unaware that the case was linked until her body was found in the basement", the sigh that he ended on showed how much the discovery of more bodies had affected him and his team. "Due to decomposition, meant that she had to be identified through DNA and dental records", the Agent said as he continued to observe through the glass window.**

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she said simply. The little girl turned to Jane, "Jane? Can we go to the park now? You said we could go and take Jo for a walk, and that we could feed the ducks too".

Jo awoke instantly at the word 'walk', and was out from beneath the table instantly.

Melody could not help but smile.

 **Frost laughed, "Guess today's interview is over with then".**

 **The Agents, and Korsak were also seemingly amused by the little one.**

"Well, I think we can end it for today, then you can go and feed those ducks", Doctor Kingston said with a smile.

Jo barked once, sitting as she wagged her tail excitedly.

Alessandra stood up, "Jo, get your lead", she said with a happy expression.

The dog moved and picked up her lead from the floor near the chair where the coats were, as the lead had fallen onto the floor.

Allie smiled when the dog dropped it on the floor in front of her.

"I guess we're leaving", Jane mumbled whilst highly amused.

"Maybe it's her way of saying that it's just too much?", Maura said quietly.

Melody nodded in her direction, agreeing with her.

It wasn't long before coats were back on and they were all at the park. Jo was off her lead whilst Alessandra was sat in Jane's lap, beside Maura, and feeding the ducks. The dog was running freely although she seemed to be running around in circles around the pond, then hiding behind Jane when a duck came too close to her.

The little girl was laughing and smiling as they fed the birds, she seemed quite relaxed in the rather quiet area of the park.

 **A/N: Thank you guys for being so understanding and patient throughout the writing of this story, I know at times my writing and uploading has been a 'bit slow'. I do aim to finish off my other unfinished too, so I will attempt to look into those too - my head is swimming with so much right now that it needs to get out. My brain seems to have a billion tabs open, and I desperately need to close some!**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for your review.**

 **Vbbneighbour - The engagement is an aim, but the wedding will definitely be too much for this story as it seems to be growing as it is… It looks to be around 60 chapters right now. I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far, thank you so much for your review.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for reviewing this chapter.**

 **\- That does sound like quite a good idea, thank you for your suggestion.**

 **Swishla - Thank you for your review. I figured that if I waved a magical wand and made her 'better' then it would make it highly unrealistic and simply ridiculous - she was held captive for approximately a year, and that is not an easy thing to go through - even if she isn't fully aware/understanding of what happened to her. I thought that with everything that Alessandra has been through, Angela would be considerate of that and not be as 'bouncy' as normal, but also I do struggle to see her as hyper and erratic as many writers seem to see her as. It isn't really an overnight transformation of Jane, she was pregnant and suffered the loss of Angioletto first, and then she was working the case for around a year so she was focusing on that little girl for that time frame. She has then in theory had over a year to adjust to the concept of becoming a mother. Your proposal idea is fabulous, thank you.**

 **Guest - Thank you for leaving a review, and for being so understanding with the posting rate.**

 **The 'Tuesday', 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', and 'Friday' chapters after this will also include case details. I will attempt to balance it out with positive scenes - both flashback ones and present time too.**


	41. Monday, January 9th - Part II

By the time that they returned home, the little girl was very tired as was Jo. Jo instantly walked into the house and made her way to her bed that was situated in the living room before she went to sleep quite quickly.

Alessandra was safely in Maura's arms when they made their way into the living room with Jane locking up the house before following them both.

Maura sat down on the sofa with the child in her arms, watching as Jane came in and knelt down in front of them both.

Jane bit her lip, hesitating ever so slightly with what she knew she needed to ask, "Tesoro? You know we spoke about stashing food away when we were at the station?".

The curly haired little girl nodded in confirmation but she did not utter a single word in response.

The Detective continued, "Do you remember what we said about you not needing to have one anymore?", she asked gently.

Allie nodded again but still remained silent.

"How about you show us where it is and we can throw that stuff away?", Jane suggested, "Then you can choose whatever you want for us to have for dinner. We can have take-out or we can cook something here".

Alessandra simply stared at the woman and did not respond, she glanced around the room before returning her gaze back to Jane, she seemed rather nervous at the concept of revealing her stash and disposing of it. She was even more nervous now than at the station when it came to the topic as it was not becoming a reality rather than just something that they discussed.

"Think of it this way Tesoro", the Rizzoli woman began, "In the kitchen, we have a bigger stash of food… a stash that we can all share and that means you don't need to hide food because you have as much food as you could possibly eat right there in the kitchen", she said with a slight flick of her hand in the general direction of the kitchen.

She remained cautious as she observed the woman in front of her before glancing in the direction of the kitchen. Alessandra then turned slightly to look at Maura as if to see what she thought of the idea.

Maura smiled softly, "I have an idea, how about you come with me and I'll show you the 'stash' in the kitchen? Would that make you feel a little better?", she knew that there was a possibility that she would need more reassurance than simply a verbal one.

The child hesitated as she looked between the kitchen, Maura, and Jane, but she slowly relented with a slight nod of her head to confirm that the concept may help her become more comfortable with the idea of handing over her no longer secret food stash.

After Jane had stood up and stepped back to allow space for Maura to move, Doctor Isles stood up carefully with the child in her arms, holding her securely against her as she walked into the kitchen.

The honey blonde woman made her way into the kitchen with the curly haired child on her hip and followed by her stunning Italian girlfriend. Doctor Isles opened each of the cupboards individually, "Look how much food there is Allie", she said gently as she moved around the kitchen as the Detective watched them. She opened the fridge and freezer doors before speaking again, "See? There is even more in here", her words were soft and careful, treating the little girl with patience and love, "There is fruit on the dining table as well", she said indicating to the table with the large bowl of overflowing fruit which included but was not limited to; bananas, apricots, apples, pears, plums, grapes, and kiwis. She then moved them to the pantry at the side of the kitchen, "And in here is, even more, food", she said with a smile as she carefully kept an eye on the child's expression, of which was giving absolutely nothing away about what she was feeling in that moment and despite Maura's training in facial expression recognition, she was struggling to read the child.

"See my little turtle?", Jane said gently as she came up behind them and put her hand cautiously on the child's shoulder, "There is so much food that you can eat whenever you feel hungry that you don't need a stash anymore".

Alessandra was staring at the open pantry before turning her head to look at Jane which caused Maura to turn around so that she could make it easier for the child to look at the dark-haired woman.

Detective Rizzoli smiled and cupped her daughter's cheek, "So, is it okay if you show us your stash now?".

She hesitated after listening to what the woman had told her, "What...", she said before hesitating for a moment, her voice very quiet and she appeared rather worried as well as nervous, "What if you change your mind?".

At that question, her adoptive mother held her a little bit closer in her arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her dark curls.

"We would never change our minds", Jane reassured her.

Alessandra nodded slightly before responding, "Promise?", she asked the woman in front of her.

Maura closed her eyes at the plea that came from the child, she hated the fact that the child had been denied access to the basic requirement of food and that she now felt so nervous that she was pleading for access, pleading for them not to change their minds... pleading for them not to starve her. It pained her to know that the innocent child in her arms had been through such horrors in her short life and it made her even more determined to protect her newly adopted daughter.

"I promise", Jane said softly, "Also Allie, you have to remember that Nonna loves to cook and feed people, doesn't she?".

Alessandra nodded with a small smile.

The Rizzoli woman smiled in return as she continued, "I promise you that you will never ever have to worry about food ever again", she said it with power behind her words and determination in her eyes. She knew that the little girl still ate very little, however, Maura had insisted that the child have small meals but often in order to build up her tolerance to food as well as to bring her up to a healthy weight with the correct nutrition. Of course, her version of 'correct nutrition' did not involve as many sweet foods or junk foods as what Jane's version did, however, she did not argue as the child was eating and building her strength so, for now, she was simply happy that her daughter was eating.

"So, if Maura puts you down on the floor will you show us where the stash is?", the dark-haired detective asked with caution as she observed her daughter's facial expressions.

Alessandra was silent as she looked between the two women before glancing around the kitchen and eventually she returned her gaze to the woman in front of her and with slight reluctance she nodded in confirmation at the idea of revealling her secret hiding place.

Maura bent down carefully in order to cautiously place the little girl on the floor so that she could stand up unaided, as always Maura was reluctant to let go of the child. It was, however, quite natural for her to become overprotective of the child as it was not just her first child but also taking into account the traumas that the child had been through and the torture that Hoyt had put them all through, she found herself with a fear of losing the little girl if she was out of her sight for too long. She was not alone in this though as her lover was also having very similar fears in concern with their rescued daughter.

Detective Rizzoli reached out and gently took hold of her daughter's left hand, "Come on then", she prompted gently, "Come and show us where it is and then you can choose whatever you want for dinner, do you have any idea what you might want?". She was aiming to put more of a focus on the food that she would be giving the child after disposing of the stash rather than the actual disposal itself.

Cautiously Alessandra moved forward and led both of the women into the guest bedroom, "No Bass", she said with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes as Bass was in the middle of the bedroom with a strawberry in front of him.

Maura bit her lip and managed not to laugh, whilst Jane tried not to laugh but failed as she found the scene of her daughter telling Bass off rather amusing as well as the fact that he had clearly managed to find her latest hiding spot in order to steal a strawberry.

The medically trained woman then cringed as she remembered that the strawberry on the floor meant that there was currently fresh food hidden in a warm bedroom in her house within reach of her tortoise, "Can you show us where Bass got the strawberry from Allie?".

"Yeah", the Detective said softly with a smile as she knelt down beside the girl, "Can you show us so that the naughty turtle can't steal any more of your food?".

"Tortoise", Maura corrected.

The dark-haired Detective smirked and nudged the little girl ever so slightly, "It's a turtle isn't it Tesoro?", trying to get her to agree with her and counteract the woman's correction.

Alessandra turned slightly to look at Maura before looking at Bass and then returning her focus to the woman who was knelt down beside her, then with a heavy sigh, she reluctantly agreed, "Yes... Bass is a turtle".

Detective Rizzoli grinned up at Maura and in return, the woman rolled her eyes, "She's only agreeing with you to get strawberries", she commented.

"That's not true, is it Allie?", she asked her with a bright smile.

Allie looked at her for a moment, "Do I get extra strawberries if I say that it isn't true?".

Doctor Isles burst out laughing at what the little girl had said to Jane and shook her head in amusement.

"Maybe next time", Jane said with a smile and a small nod, "But for now we need to find this hiding spot because I don't know about you but I am really hungry so I would like to see what you choose for us to have for our dinner".

She nodded to her mother who was knelt beside her and then smiled up at the one who was stood slightly behind her who was only just stopping her laughter. She paused for a moment before stepping forwards, she had made her way across the room and knelt down on the floor.

The two women moved so that they could see her but remained at a distance to give her space as they observed her. Maura knew that she was planning to deep clean the room to rid it of any remaining bacterium that was a result of the presence of the food, she had already grabbed a carrier bag from the kitchen before they had left to follow the child to her hiding space.

Alessandra reached under the bed and pulled out a small wicker basket which had previously gone 'missing' from the pantry and Maura had been unaware where it had gone, however, she had hypothesised that Angela may have borrowed it for something as she had done previously. Inside the basket was a number of items such as; a broken piece of pancake that looked to be around a third of one of the ones that Angela had made for them and by the looks of it a little stale, five pieces of gnocchi which appeared to have hardened a bit, half a bottle of orange juice, and a piece of cheese pizza which had gone cold at least a day previously. "I did have strawberries too but I seem to be having theft issues", she informed them in a rather serious manner.

Maura watched her daughter as she internally cringed at the sight of the food and drink that had been hidden under the guest bed in the room, she was wondering how she had not noticed it before. The honey blonde Medical Examiner nudged Jane, handing her the rolled up carrier bag before indicating to Allie.

Jane nodded before she moved closer to the child and knelt down with her on the floor, "How about we throw these bits away in this bag and then we can go into the living room, you can choose whatever you want for dinner, and we can even watch a movie if you'd like to".

She paused but eventually, Allie nodded in confirmation, agreeing to the idea.

In order to give the girl a little more control back, she offered the bag to her, "Would you like to put the things in the bag?", she asked as she opened it up and held it out to her.

Her focus switched between the plastic bag and the small basket of food a few times before she eventually nodded in agreement, she was, however, silent despite agreeing. She carefully reached out, hesitating at first before picking up an item and putting it into the bag that the Detective was holding out for her. She then repeated this until each and every item had been removed from the basket.

"I think we can throw the basket in there too", Maura said with a small smile, knowing that she would not want to use the slightly stained basket again, especially as it would be so hard to clean.

Allie nodded and did what she had suggested by throwing the basket into the bag along with the food items.

Jane quickly tied the bag up as Maura stepped forward again with her hand out towards their adoptive daughter, "How about you come with me and we can decide what you would like for dinner?".

Allie nodded in agreement and took hold of Maura's hand.

"Could you do me a favour and put this in the bin for me Tesoro?", Jane asked gently, knowing that it would be easier to accept if she herself threw it away rather than one of them doing it.

Alessandra nodded with a small smile, hesitating ever so slightly before taking hold of the tied bag with her free hand and walking with Maura into the kitchen where the bag was thrown away.

"What would you like for dinner Allie?", Maura asked as she picked the child up and placed her gently on the work surface in the kitchen, "Would you like for me to cook something? Or would you like take-out?", she did not ask if she wanted to eat out as she knew that the little girl was not ready for that yet as she was still nervous when they ate at the precinct cafe.

She thought for a moment as she contemplated the question, "Take-out", she said with a smile as she wanted to curl up on the sofa with her two mothers rather than one or both of them being in the kitchen cooking.

The honey blonde nodded, "What type?", she asked as she pushed a stray curl back behind her daughter's ear.

"Pizza!", she exclaimed with a bit of excitement, she had seemed to have forgotten about the disposal of her stash as now the concentration was on the fresh food of her choice.

Jane grinned, "That's my girl", she said happily as she stepped forward to wrap her arms around her daughter before using her other arm to pull her lover closer to them both and kissing the two of them on the head.

 **A/N: Apologies for the long wait for an update, I had not realised that it had been so long since I updated this story! February? That is INSANE! Sorry guys! It has been… hectic here. Thank you for your patience. Thank you to every single one of you who have put this on their favourite list or signed up to the alerts.**

 **Courtneeyoung18 - Thank you for taking the time to review.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review. Sorry but there won't be a wedding at the moment but there most likely will be in the future.**

 **Vbbneighbor - Thank you for taking the time to review the last chapter, I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far. I can guarantee that she definitely does have a lot more information to reveal. Again, I am so glad that you are enjoying it!**

 **Swishla - At the moment she has no reason to doubt that the women simply 'went home' which is why she hasn't asked anyone about it but I do agree that there is a risk of her finding out from someone else. Their return to work is a potential issue, however, you will have to keep reading to see how they deal with that but for now they are on 'maternity' leave with the adoption and also they do have the possibility of using their stored up vacation time.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for leaving reviews on this story, I do love to read them. I am glad that you are enjoying the story. I rather liked the idea of the garbage bag covering the dress and originally I was going to write that Jane put it on her, however, I decided that it would go against what Maura may think of it so I opted to switch it to the idea only. I think that by writing it on a child's level it leaves some of it to the reader's imagination in a way as Alessandra doesn't fully understand the meaning of some of the things that happen, however, the majority of readers will be able to connect the dots and work out what really happened, especially added to the information that Allie isn't aware of but law enforcement is. I am definitely glad that I am not alone in the tabs issue!**

 **Chawkchic - Thank you for taking the time to review, I am very grateful to be able to hear your opinion.**

 **Natural Reader - thank you for leaving a review, I am so glad that you have enjoyed the story so far and I do hope to increase the updates for this story as well as my others in between my assignments.**

 **Guest - Thank you for your review**

 **Born Reader - I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far!**

 **Dmcdroid - Thank you for the review, I am glad that you are enjoying it and I can confirm that I am currently planning on involving her in that event.**

 **Printemps - So glad that you are enjoying the story, thank you for reviewing.**

 **Dude - I will definitely be aiming to complete the story, thanks for the review.**

 **Rugbylass - Don't worry I haven't forgotten the story! Thanks for the review!**


	42. Tuesday, January 10th - Part I

It had been nine days since the little girl had been discovered in the abandoned medical closet in Hoyt's hospital room and eight days since she had been discarded from the hospital.

Alessandra still had her bright red cast on her arm, however, the cut on her head along with the bruising to her face had both healed and the traces of Flunitrazepam were fully clear. She was showing signs of recovery from her malnutrition as well as showing a little less anxiety although any time out of the home was a little more challenging when too many people were around her as she became overwhelmed. The antibiotics had fully cleared up her respiratory infection although as a safety precaution Maura still insisted upon the idea of keeping an oxygen tank available for her.

Despite her progress she was still showing signs of psychological trauma, of which they did not expect to vanish overnight as they knew that it most likely be a long term issue, and she was also still not eating a 'full' meal for her age but she had increased her intake through the use of smaller meals more often than the normal three meal times per day. Maura also had been giving her vitamin and mineral supplements along with a specialised drink to treat malnutrition symptoms in children.

She was still having nightmares although they were now on a more irregular basis rather than on a nightly basis. Allie was also yet to move into her own bedroom, the two women had yet to move her out of their own, however, the Rizzoli family were planning to surprise the little girl with a freshly decorated bedroom in time for the weekend. Frankie had already been out to buy the supplies that they needed and that Maura had given him the money for, and along with the things that Jane had ordered online which included the new bed was already in the bedroom although still in its boxes.

Jane was lying on her side with her legs slightly spread and one of her arms beneath her pillow where her head was resting. Her dark hair was covering the majority of her face making it hard to tell if she was sleeping or awake. The woman's left hand was resting on Alessandra's back in a reassuring manner. She wore a set of Red Sox pyjamas which was composed of a tank top and shorts, both made from organic fairtrade cotton and purchased for her by her loving girlfriend.

Maura, unlike Jane, was lying on her back, slightly propped up with an additional pillow, and with both of her arms wrapped around the small child that was currently sleeping in her arms. Her nightwear was of a similar composition, however, hers was made from 100% silk.

Little Alessandra was sleeping soundly as she lay on top of her adoptive mother, her head resting above where Maura's heart was in order for her to be able to hear the soothing sound of Maura's heartbeat, and her hand had a light grip on the fabric of the woman's pyjama top as her fingers slid slightly across the soft material. She seemed to find the feel of the silk quite soothing, even in her slumber. Despite suffering from a nightmare in the middle of the night at around two am she was now peacefully resting and perfectly still in the woman's secure embrace which clearly showed how safe she felt in the Doctor's arms.

 _Maura awoke suddenly, unsure initially as to what exactly had woken her up until she heard it again. A whimper. A mumble. A small cry for help. When Jane began to awaken from her own dreams, Doctor Isles had already wrapped her arms around the little one to hold her close and to shelter her from whatever it was that was plaguing her mind._

 _Allie, however, did not calm from that alone and continued to cry out, although it was a little quieter as she was calmed slightly from the scent of Maura's perfume wrapping around her._

" _It's okay", Maura whispered gently, "Shhh my darling"._

 _Jane did not interfere, she wanted to let Maura take the lead as she knew that her lover had been quite upset when she had not been able to help the first time that Allie had a nightmare so if Maura awoke first then she would let her take the lead and would follow what Maura wanted to do, that was unless the woman actually asked her to._

 _As the little girl wriggled in the bed, the honey-blonde woman ran her hand gently over her small head in a soothing motion._

 _Bright blue eyes shot open suddenly, they were filled with fear and anxiety as they darted in an unfocused manner around the dimly lit bedroom. Jane had tapped the base of the light to turn it on using the dimmer feature and so it was only on a very low setting so that they could see each other and so that when the child awoke she would be able to identify her surroundings with much more ease._

 _Maura took the trembling girl into her arms and held her closely to her, one hand pressing Alessandra's head against her chest on instinct which allowed the child to hear her heartbeat._

 _Alessandra Mai calmed down a little as Maura rocked her slightly in her arms and as she listened to the woman's calming heart rate._

" _Allie?", the Medical Examiner whispered gently towards her adoptive daughter, "Allie? Would you like some magic milk?"._

 _She nodded slightly against Maura's chest, her tears marking the expensive silk, not that the woman was worried about the fabric as she was much more concerned with comforting the distressed child and in her mind, the clothing held very little importance in comparison._

 _Jane smiled gently as she observed how tightly their daughter was gripping the material of her lover's nightwear and she quietly whispered that she would go and get the milk for her instead so that Maura could remain where she was and keep the child warm beneath the covers._

 _Instantly the medically trained woman had agreed, not wanting to move the child too much after having just calmed her enough that her breathing had evened out and her tears had stopped flowing down her soft cheeks._

 _When the Detective returned to the bedroom, Alessandra was sat sideways in Maura's lap with her legs curled up, and her head on the woman's chest whilst Maura was continuing to rock slightly although it was more of a subconscious action stemming from her maternal instincts rather than a conscious decision. The woman was also singing rather quietly to the little girl who was safely held within her embrace, Jane realised quickly, however, that the song was not in English but instead it was in French which she herself could not understand and she doubted that the child understood the lyrics either and yet the girl had calmed substantially as she listened to the softly sung words that flowed from her adoptive mother's lips._

 _Maura looked up in Jane's direction as she heard the woman place the mugs down on the bedside table beside her before stopping her song._

 _Alessandra looked up instantly at her, not seeming impressed that she had stopped mid-flow._

 _Jane could not help but laugh a little at her expression, "I don't think she wanted you to stop singing Maur'"._

" _Your magic milk is here Allie", she said as she looked down into a set of unimpressed blue eyes._

 _The Italian woman smiled, "What were you singing?", she asked softly, "It was in French, right?"._

 _Maura nodded in confirmation of the language, "Yes", she said softly as she ran a hand gently through Alessandra's curls, "It was one that my nanny used to sing to me when I was little when we were living in Paris"._

" _Please?", Allie whispered she asked she looked up at the honey blonde with a slight and very light tap to the woman's chest bone, "Please?"._

" _You want her to continue Tesoro?", Jane asked her as she sat down on the edge of the bed beside Maura's hip._

 _Alessandra nodded instantly._

" _You know French?", the Detective asked with curiosity._

 _The little one shook her head, "No", she answered, "But I like the sound"._

" _The sound of her singing?", the woman asked softly._

 _Allie nodded as she snuggled back into Maura._

 _Jane smiled, "I do too", she said before pressing a kiss to her lover's lips and another to the top of Alessandra's curls._

" _How about you have your magic milk and then I'll sing the lullaby again?", Maura suggested as she ran her hand up and down the child's back._

" _Okay", came the whisper from the small girl who was safely in her arms._

 _Detective Rizzoli picked up the Red Sox mug from the bedside table and handed it to Alessandra who was now sat up fully so that she could drink her drink properly without spilling the warm liquid all over Maura and the bed that they were sleeping in._

 _Maura pressed a loving kiss to the top of Allie's curls and smiled in Jane's direction, she hated the fact that the child was suffering from night terrors but loved the fact that they had found her and that they were able to be together in that moment._

 _Jane Rizzoli leaned over and pressed another kiss to Maura's lips before speaking, "I got you some too", she said with a smile._

 _Doctor Isles laughed a little at that and looked towards the bedside table where there were two more mugs of the warm and soothing liquid. "Thank you", she said with a soft smile._

 _Once the milk was finished and the empty mugs were put back into the kitchen and slipped into the dishwasher, Jane climbed back into bed beside her lover and their adoptive daughter, tugging the covers up to keep them all warm._

 _Alessandra had fallen back to sleep but Maura did not even attempt to put her back down on the bed and instead opted to simply hold her close to her and sleep whilst slightly propped up against the pillows._

The alarm at the side of the bed suddenly started making its horrid noise that it repeatedly made each weekday morning resulting in the previously sleeping child to sit up just as quickly and just as suddenly as the noise had begun.

Her rapid movement moved the mattress as the child moved off of Maura and towards the middle of the bed in order to place herself in a position between both of her adoptive mothers.

Maura had awoken and reached out her hand in order to hit the button so that the annoying noise would stop instantly.

Jane groaned, annoyed at the noise and tugged the little girl down towards her before burying the two of them underneath the warm duvet covers.

Alessandra was still shaking a little from the sudden noise but it did not take her long to calm down as she was held tightly against Jane as if the woman was using her as a stuffed toy in the bed.

The Doctor then found herself being pulled down beneath the covers with the two of them and she could not help but grin as she was encased in the warmth of the blanket as well as her lover's arms with the child in between them.

Jane held the little girl against her with one arm and then with the other she pulled Maura as closely as she possibly could without squishing the child too much, "I love you", she said with conviction as she leaned over and kissed her girlfriend deeply.

"I love you too", she replied as they pulled back from their kiss.

The Detective leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to their daughter's head, "And we love you my little turtle", she said softly with the little girl's face hidden against her chest.

It was not long before they heard noises coming from downstairs, Jane threw the covers off of their heads in order for her to sit up a little and listen carefully to the sounds, "Ma's here", she said with a slight roll of her eyes.

Maura smiled with a slight nod, "We should get dressed", she said with a smile.

"I can smell pancakes", Alessandra commented, ignoring the idea of getting dressed.

"In that case, we best go down and get some", the older dark-haired woman stated instantly, "We can get dressed after we've eaten can't we?", she suggested.

Doctor Isles nodded, "Well _I_ am going to get dressed and I will meet you downstairs ready for breakfast".

The child was soon on her way downstairs with her adoptive mother and making their way into the kitchen as the scent of pancakes cooking was becoming stronger as they got closer.

"I knew you would wake up when you smelt the pancakes", Angela commented from her place by the stove.

Jane laughed with amusement as she picked Alessandra up from the floor, "My little Tesoro was the one that smelt them first", she pointed out.

Angela smiled with a slight shake of her head, "Already so much like you", she commented with affection.

The woman was quite happy with the comment as she sat down on the stool at the breakfast bar.

"Where's Maura?", the older woman asked as she placed the first set of pancakes onto a plate.

"Upstairs getting dressed", she responded with a smile as she readjusted the child in her lap.

Alessandra was watching the Rizzoli matriarch closely as she made the pancakes and placed them on the plate.

Angela picked up a Red Sox plate and placed the first pancake onto the plate before putting it in front of Allie, "Here you go", she said softly, keeping behind the counter rather than going around it to be beside her, "We have some fruit and syrups here as well if you would like those", she indicated physically to the bowls and bottles nearby on the counter as she spoke.

"Grazie Nonna", Alessandra whispered ever so softly, so softly in fact that it was barely audible.

Jane was looking down at the child, unsure of what she had heard.

Angela moved back to the counter towards Alessandra, "What was that sweetie?", she asked in a very gentle tone of voice.

Allie looked nervous all of a sudden as if she was worried that she had said something wrong.

"It's okay", the woman said softly, reaching out to gently touch Allie's hand.

Allie pulled back quickly at the sudden movement.

"You didn't say anything wrong, I'm just getting old so I'm not sure I heard you correctly", Angela commented softly.

Jane kissed the top of her adoptive daughter's head, "It's okay Tesoro", she said as she held her closely against her.

"I…", the little one paused, "I said…", she was clearly nervous about repeating what she had said, "I said thank you".

Angela nodded, knowing that it was not all that she had said but knowing that it was better not to pressure the child, "You're welcome", she responded.

"It's okay to call her Nonna", Jane said softly as her own mother moved back to the stove, "I know I said it yesterday when we were talking, didn't I?".

Alessandra nodded but did not verbally respond.

"So, you know it's okay to, right?", the woman asked before pressing a kiss to the girl's cheek.

She hesitated for a moment before she once again nodded her head in confirmation of her understanding.

"You should eat your pancakes before they get cold my little turtle", Jane said before tickling the little girl in order to make her giggle happily.

When Maura entered the room she was wearing black trousers, a black pair of Manolo Blahnik heels, and an emerald green blouse. "Good Morning Angela", the honey-blonde woman greeted with a smile.

"Good Morning Maura", the older woman replied with a bright smile as she served up another plate full of pancakes, handing over a plate to Jane and then placing a secondary plate beside her for Maura. She cooked another batch as Maura sat down at the breakfast table.

"Thank you Angela", she said politely referring to the delicious homemade pancakes that had been placed in front of her.

Jane was helping Alessandra with her toppings as she had chosen a mix of chocolate sauces along with strawberries.

Maura began topping her pancakes with a multitude of different fruits on the top of hers with a drizzle of passionfruit flavoured syrup.

Angela set the last batch of pancakes onto the plate that had been placed in the centre and then she pulled one of the stools around to her side in order to eat hers. She topped hers with a simple sprinkling of sugar and a light drizzle of dark chocolate sauce whilst Jane was similar to Alessandra with the fact she drowned the pancakes in a mix of chocolate sauces but she did throw a couple of pieces of fruit on the top when she noticed Maura's raised eyebrow.

When the pancakes were finished, Jane took Allie upstairs and got her cleaned up then once she was free of the chocolate that she had managed to spread over her hands, face, clothing, and other random places of her body, Jane passed Allie over to Maura whilst she herself showered to get rid of the chocolate that she and Alessandra had managed to get on her.

Maura was quite happy to dress the little girl, as she always was. She had always wanted a daughter and her love of fashion meant that she very much enjoyed dressing the little one up.

That day she opted for _Stella McCartney Children's Grey Swans Print Fleece Leona Dress_ which made from 100% cotton and covered in a pink swan print where the swans each had golden Queen crowns resting upon their heads. On her feet she wore the coordinating shoes, also by _Stella McCartney_ which were the _Girls' Silver Glitter Swan Lily Boots_ which were ankle high, covered in silver glitter and had pink swans on the sides of them, each swan with an individual crown fitting for a Queen. In order to keep her warm, the woman had chosen a powder pink and grey knitted chevron pom-pom hat and matching knitted gloves with a warm grey coat.

Approximately an hour later they found themselves once again sat in the interview room at the Boston Police Department. Jo had stayed home this time but Jane, Maura, and Alessandra were all sat on the floor of the room in front of the doll house.

"...and the Mommy can go there", she said happily as she placed one female doll in the study, "because that's the office".

"Why does Mommy go in the office?", Jane asked, "Does she have to work?".

"She goes in there to do lots of work", she confirmed with a nod, "She's a Doctor, remember? You said she's the most clever person that you know".

Jane looked at Maura and smiled. Maura, however, was unsure of how to respond.

"And Mamma goes…", the little girl thought for a moment, "Mamma goes in the living room to watch the Red Sox".

The two women were focused on watching and listening to the little one.

"Then the dog goes in the bed fast asleep…", Alessandra said with a smile, "And….where's the tortoise?". "I mean turtle", she quickly corrected with a glance towards Jane.

Jane smirked, "Good save kid", she said with a small laugh, "I'm not sure there is a turtle so you'll have to pretend that there is one".

"I suppose that Bass can have the magical ability to be invisible in this case", she said with a slight shake of her head, "Although I am slightly worried that someone might trip over him".

"Where are you, Allie?", Maura asked with a smile as she looked into the house.

"I can't make up my mind where I should go", Alessandra said as she tugged her lip into her mouth slightly with her teeth, "I don't know if I want to go into the office with you or go and watch the game with Jane".

Maura's smile brightened and her eyes watered slightly as the child had confirmed fully that the 'Mommy' was her and that the 'Mamma' was Jane, not that she had said the words directly of course. "How about if you go in and watch the game then I will join you after I finish the report?", the Medical Examiner suggested with a smile.

Alessandra nodded, "Okay", she said simply as she placed the female child doll in the living room with the 'Mamma' doll. She put the little girl close to the other doll on the sofa which was placed in front of a television.

After playing with the doll house for approximately ten minutes, Doctor Kingston entered the room with a soft knock on the door, "Good Morning", she said in a joyfully welcoming manner after having observed them through the observation glass, "Are you having fun?", she asked the child.

Alessandra hesitated but then silently nodded.

Melody smiled, "That's good", she said as she moved closer although being respectful of the child's personal space, "Would you like to tell me what the dollies are doing?".

The little girl paused for a moment but then turned to the house and began to point out each of the individual characters, "This is the Mommy, Mamma, and the little girl", she said softly, "They're watching a Red Sox game on TV". "The Mommy was in her office working but Maura said that instead of choosing where I should go that she would leave her office and come and watch the game with Jane and I", she explained, "Then Jo… she's asleep in her bed over there and Bass… well Bass is invisible because this silly house doesn't have a tor...turtle".

Melody mentally noted the switch between 'Mommy' and 'Mamma' to 'Maura' and 'Jane', seeing the conflict that seemed to be present in the child over the names but she did not pressure the little one on the topic and instead opted to comment on Bass instead, "Oh no", she said as if it were a terrible thing, "That is a silly house if it doesn't have a turtle isn't it?".

Alessandra giggled and nodded with amusement.

"Hmm… I think I will have to write it in my report that they need turtles in the dollhouse, what do you think?", the psychologist asked her with a smile, seeming to be taking what the little girl said quite seriously.

Allie nodded, giggling even more now.

"Do you remember the last time that you were here where you were looking at those photographs for me?", Doctor Melody Kingston asked as she observed the little girl's facial expressions and response.

Alessandra Mai nodded her head in confirmation.

"That's good", Melody said from her position where she was kneeling down on the carpeted floor, "Do you think you could do that for me again?".

"You have a lot of photos don't you?", the little girl asked with a slight tilt of her head, observing the woman in return.

Melody nodded with a bright smile, "I do and that is why I need your help", she said softly, "Because you know so much more about them than what any of us do".

"I do?", the child questioned.

"You sure do", Melody Kingston confirmed with her usual friendly smile, "And that makes you magical which is why we need your help so much, is that okay?".

Alessandra Mai nodded with a slight sigh, "I suppose so", she responded.

"Thank you", the blonde-haired woman said politely as she stood up, "Would you like to come over to the table with me so that we can take a look at them?", she asked as she put out her hand.

The little girl nodded and stood up but made no attempt to take Melody's hand, instead opting to take Maura's who was now also standing up.

Melody smiled reassuringly at the young child and dropped her own hand to her side, she had expected the reaction but had wanted to try so that she could test how much trust the child had in her so far. She made her way over to the table, shortly followed by the two women and the little girl.

Maura knelt down on the floor next to the table and Alessandra instantly sat down in her lap, leaning back into her whilst Jane sat down beside them and Melody sat opposite them at the child-sized table.

Doctor Kingston placed her usual brown folder on the table, "Are you ready?", she asked softly.

 **A/N: This story is OFFICIALLY not only the longest I have written with the most chapters and the highest word count but also the most favourited and most reviewed (the most followed goes to 'Saving Maura')! When I started out I was planning for around 20-30 chapters but now? I am on 42 and working towards 60! Thank you so much for all of the follows and favourites as well as reviews.**

 **I am ALREADY working on chapter 43 RIGHT NOW, so I will ask you the same question that Doctor Kingston asked Allie, 'Are you ready?' for the next chapter?!**

 **P.S. did anyone notice the OUAT reference?**

 **yagirljayx - Thank you for leaving the review, it does not matter how late you found the story, I am glad that you're here! I am so glad that you are enjoying the story so far.**

 **LaurenKnight13 - I am glad that you are enjoying the story and do hope that you continue to do so, thank you for taking the time to leave a review.**

 **LadyB3lla - I am glad to be back! I apologise for the long wait but hopefully, it was worth it ; ) Thanks for the review!**

 **sweetkid45 - Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!**

 **sally rally - Late is better than never : ) I am glad that you like the story so far and very appreciative of the review. I agree with you on the negative people, if they hate it then they should not bother to read - one example is a review I had on another story which was 'Rubble and Ashes' where a person literally left a review to tell me that writing fanfiction is a sin... my question is why do they have an account and why are they reading them?! Some people have such ridiculous levels of stupidity that it is simply insane.**

 **vbbneighbor - Thank you for taking the time to review the chapter, I can promise you that I have not abandoned the story and do not plan to do so. Hopefully, this chapter lives up to expectations, I am supposed to be studying for a debate tomorrow but that sounds so much less interesting than chapter 43 does so guess which one I'm working on right now?**

 **luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you so much for leaving a review again, I do smile every time I see that little penguin photo! Your reviews are always a much-needed dose of positivity! I am glad that you have enjoyed the story so far and I do hope that you continue to do so.**


	43. Tuesday, January 10th - Part II

Allie nodded in confirmation.

Melody smiled, "Would you like a drink or anything before we start?", she checked with the child.

Alessandra shook her head, "No thank you", she replied in her usual polite manner.

"Okay then", the FBI Psychologist said with a smile before she opened her file and extracted the first photo before placing it in front of the recently adopted child.

The first photo was that of 25-year-old Lilianna Thompson who had dark hair that was almost black, it was curled towards the bottom and shoulder length. The woman in the photograph was sat on a sun lounger by the side of a pool where it appeared that she was most likely on holiday as the beautiful blue sky was lit up by the brightness of the sun and the water sparkled in the background like a million little diamonds. She had on a sun hat but her sunshades were hooked into the central part of her cerulean blue beach top which very lightly covered the black bikini beneath of it.

"Alessandra, can you take a look at this for me and if possible could you tell me who she is?", Melody asked as she closely observed the child's reaction to the photo.

Recognition was shown upon the child's facial features but she was quiet for a moment as she pulled the image closer to her and she seemed to be analysing every little detail of the image before she spoke, "Lili", she responded, "Her real name was Lilianna Thom… Thompson but she liked to be called Lili".

"Very good", Melody encouraged before asking another question, "Where do you remember her from?".

"The cabin", she replied simply, "She came to stay a couple of days after Katherine went home".

"Do you remember how long she stayed with you?", Doctor Kingston continued whilst the two other women remained silent, not wanting to interrupt the interview but instead being there as a support frame for the child.

Alessandra looked down at the photograph again before shaking her head, "I don't know but I know that it was a lot of sleeps".

The woman nodded, knowing that if the woman had been taken a couple of days after Katherine had been found then that would mean that she would have been with them for approximately three weeks but that time frame was uncertain because there was no confirmation of when or where she was kidnapped from as she was only reported missing after she failed to turn up to work for almost two weeks as she only worked three out of seven days each week and her colleagues had assumed that the woman was unwell but when they still could not reach her and coupled with the reports of the two missing and murdered women, Lilianna's boss finally called the police to report her disappearance.

"That's okay Alessandra", Melody said gently in a reassuring manner, "Could you tell me what you do remember about her?".

Alessandra nodded but instead of speaking she looked back down at the photograph, "She has a scar on her leg where she fell off of a motorbike when she was a teenager", she said with her eyes still focused on the image.

The three adults remained silent, giving her time to gather her thoughts and vocalise them.

"She has a pet dog called 'Toto' who is grey and white with lots of really fluffy fur", Allie said with her eyes still focused downwards, "She told me stories about Toto and how much he liked to go on walks to the park to chase the ducks". "Jo likes to do that too", the little one added at the end.

 _Lilianna was laying down in the hole in the ground within the basement where she was being held hostage. There were three men upstairs, she could hear them watching television, drinking beer, and talking about rubbish and uninteresting topics as they were rather loud._

 _Alessandra was laying beside her, she had her head on Lili's chest and her arms wrapped around the woman whilst the blanket was wrapped around them both._

" _You should try and get some sleep Little One", Lili said softly in a whisper as she lay in the dark._

" _I can't sleep", she responded in a quiet whisper, "They're too loud"._

 _Lilianna nodded, "How about I tell you stories?"._

" _What kind of stories?", the child asked._

" _Stories about a fluffy dog named 'Toto', he's grey and white, and oh so fluffy!", she said in an enthusiastic whisper so that those above them could not hear her._

 _Alessandra liked the sound of that and nodded, "Yes please"._

"Can you remember anything else?", the blonde-haired woman prompted carefully.

The little girl looked up from the photo and towards the woman that was still kneeling at the opposite side of the table, "Erm…", she paused again as she looked down at the photo, "She really liked to draw". "She drew me a picture using ketchup!", the child exclaimed, "It was amazing".

"Wow!", the Psychologist said with enthusiasm, "That sure does sound amazing, what was the drawing of?".

"It was of Toto, she really missed him while she was there with me", Alessandra revealed, "At least she gets to see him now that she went home, right?".

She skipped over the question, asking something else rather than answering the direct question, "Do you remember anything else? Did she draw anything else?".

Alessandra nodded, not picking up on the skipping of her question, "She drew different pictures in the dirt outside and in the floor of the basement", she said softly, "She was very good at drawing animals but she wasn't too keen on drawing people, she said she wasn't very good at it but I thought that she was really really good at it".

Melody observed the child closely, watching for any sign of distress that would consequently mean that they would have to cut the interview short in order to protect the welfare of the child and prevent re-victimization.

"She drew a picture of a unicorn of the wall of the basement", she revealed with a smile, "But she put wings on the unicorn… unicorns don't have wings, pegasuses do". "She said she wanted to make it more magical for me though and she even put sparkles around it and a big rainbow although it didn't have any colour on it because she scratched it into the dirt", the little one said softly.

Not all of the information helped them with their work but it did give them more of an insight into the smaller details of the case that would have otherwise been missed or ignored. Thrown in with the information about unicorns and braids was vital facts about the victims and about Hoyt as well as his accomplices but interviewing a child was not as straight-forward as it would be if they were interviewing an adult because they could not simply ask questions like 'when was she killed?', or 'what happened to her?' as this would not help them get any answers and it would cause problems for the child psychologically. They had to tread carefully and cautiously.

"I got a cold when she was there with me and she helped me get better", she said softly, "She held me when I slept so that I was sitting up a bit and so I wouldn't cough as much".

"That was very nice of her", Melody commented gently.

Maura pressed a kiss to the top of the child's head and held her close to her whilst Jane put her hand around the woman and rested her hand on her hip.

Alessandra nodded before continuing, "Santa sent one of his friends to get me some medicine and she helped me to take it at the right times well… we think it was the right times because we didn't have a clock or a watch or anything to tell the time with", she revealed, "It didn't taste very nice though and the first time I had some I spat it out. Lili said that it was because it was supposed to be an adult medicine and that they had bought the wrong one. We knew that Santa wouldn't go out and get the children's one though so we didn't bother to tell him it was the wrong one because he was scary when he was angry".

"Did it make you feel better?", Melody asked gently, "The medicine?", she clarified.

Allie nodded, "It did for awhile", she said softly, "I got sick quite a bit because of my chest", she said with a slight sigh, "Mammina always took me to the hospital when I was sick or gave me my oxygen mask but she wasn't there and I didn't have my oxygen tank with me".

Maura ran her thumb across the child's hand in a soothing manner as she held her close in a maternal and protective manner.

Alessandra continued, "I miss Mammina", she whispered quietly in an almost inaudible voice, "Lili said that Mammina would come for me one day and that then everything would be okay".

" **She still thinks she's alive?", Frost questioned.**

 **There was a hush with the agents as Korsak nodded, "Apparently so".**

" **What happens when she realises that the woman was killed?", the younger Detective asked with disbelief in his facial expressions.**

Maura kissed the top of her head again with tears in her own eyes and she held the child closer to her, finding herself subconsciously rocking ever so slightly.

" **We… aren't exactly sure", one of the agents admitted, "It isn't exactly an easy thing to approach and right now we can't risk setting her recovery back, you have to understand that we need her to tell us what she knows".**

" **So what you're telling me is that you're using her for information and suddenly when you're done with her then you'll tell her that her entire family were murdered on Christmas Eve?", Frost asked with slight anger in his tone of voice.**

" **Not quite like that Detective", another agent said wanting to put a stop to the conversation.**

"She said I just have to be patient and wait", Alessandra revealed with a big smile, "I can be patient Doctor Melody, I really can".

 **Both Detectives were furious but as they looked at the little girl through the glass their hearts broke for her not just because of what she had already been through but because of what they knew she would go through in the future.**

"Do you remember anything else about Lili?", Doctor Kingston asked her with a smile as she did her very best to hide the sadness that she felt about what the child had said about her mother, "What about her favourite colour?".

Alessandra thought for a moment, "I don't know what her favourite colour is", she said softly, "Maybe you can ask her when you ask her questions?". "I know her favourite food is pizza though although she likes anchovies on hers just like Papa does", the child said with a scrunched up face.

"You don't like anchovies very much, do you?", Melody asked with amusement.

She shook her head, "No way", the little girl said with conviction, "They're gross".

"They are aren't they?", Jane commented with a grin before kissing Allie's cheek gently.

Alessandra nodded again before continuing, "We never had anchovies on pizza though at the cabin", she revealed, "Which was good because she would have had to have eaten them all".

"Do you remember anything else Alessandra?", Melody prompted again, "Do you remember who was with you in the cabin at the same time as Lilianna?".

The child thought for a moment, "Santa was there", she said softly, "He had his friends there sometimes", she was unaware that they were really accomplices.

"Do you remember what friends were there?", she asked the child gently.

Alessandra bit her lip gently and shook her head, "We weren't allowed outside of the basement very much but I do remember a man called Jason".

"Do you remember anything about him?", Melody asked her.

"He had dark hair with grey bits in it, it was quite short but not too short", she said as she looked upwards as she tried to remember, "He wore jeans but they were dirty with paint and he wore a black shirt that had a horrible looking dragon on it". "I heard him a few times but I only saw him once", Alessandra admitted, "He drank beer too, he threw a can on the floor… you're not supposed to throw trash on the ground".

"No, you're not are you?", the woman said with a smile.

She shook her head which made her loose curls flick side to side in an untamed manner, "Oh!", she said suddenly, "I remember someone else".

"Who Alessandra?", the woman prompted yet again.

"Eliza", the little girl said with a smile.

" **Eliza Day", Agent Summers said as she continued to watch the little girl in the other room, "We didn't know about her until we searched the cabin to try and find Alessandra". The blond-haired woman continued, "Her name was written in the basement with the other victims names but there were a number of names that we hadn't found bodies for at that point in time", Jennifer said calmly, "Eliza and five others; Alexia Ponti, Marcia De Pablo, Cecee Hunter, Jennifer Prentiss, and Kiri Alberto".**

"Do you remember her last name?", Melody asked her gently, knowing that they did not have a photo to match the name that had been scrawled on the wall of the 'grave-like' hole in the basement.

" **How many of those have been found and identified now?", Korsak asked as he too continued to watch the others in the interview room.**

"Erm… I think it was Day", the little girl said softly, "You know like night and day? That's how I remember it because she was only there for a day".

 **Jennifer Summers sighed, "All were at different stages of decomposition as they had been buried on the property so it was hard to tell straight away who was who", she admitted, "We identified Alexia, Cecee, and Jennifer by their dental records, we managed to identify Kiri by her college ID and through DNA testing, but Eliza and Marcia have not been identified".**

 **Korsak asked another question in response, "How many unidentified bodies are there from the cabin?".**

"Do you know why she wasn't there for longer?", the woman asked her gently.

" **Eleven", Agent Summers responded, "Four have been identified as accomplices of Hoyt's, three males are unidentified but they are possible accomplices, and a further four are female with two of those possibly being Eliza and Marcia".**

"Santa didn't like her very much", Alessandra said softly, "He made her go home".

 _The little girl woke up when she heard a crash and a scream, Lilianna held her tightly against her as she sat up and looked up out of the hole that they were in._

" _Get off of me!", the voice shouted from upstairs._

 _The next moment they knew, there was a red-headed woman that was thrown down the stairs towards the basement._

 _Lilianna froze in shock and that freeze was enough time for the little girl to escape her embrace and climb from the hole towards the woman._

" _Are you okay?", the little girl asked the woman cautiously._

 _The woman looked up at her from her position on the floor, confusion written on her face, "Who… who are you?"._

" _My name is Alessandra Mai Harmon", she said politely, "But I think I asked my question first"._

 _The woman smirked slightly at that, "I'm fine", she replied, "Just a little sore"._

" _You have to be careful coming down those stairs", the little girl said softly, "There all wonky and creaky"._

 _She nodded realising that the little girl thought that she had fallen unassisted rather than the truth which was that she had been thrown down in the basement in a rough and careless manner, "I will bear that in mind next time I come down them but hopefully I will be going home soon"._

 _Alessandra nodded, "I want to go home too", the little one said softly._

 _Lilianna came closer and sat beside the child, "I told you that your mother will come soon, you just have to give her time Alessandra", she said quietly._

" _What's your name?", the little one said as she looked at the woman who was now starting to sit up, "I've told you mine and this is Lilianna but she likes to be called Lili", she indicated to the woman whose lap she was currently in._

 _The red-headed woman smiled, "My name is Eliza", she said softly, "Eliza Day"._

" _Like day and night?", the child asked with a slight tilt of her head._

 _Eliza chuckled and nodded, "Just like that"._

"Do you remember why Santa didn't like her?", Melody asked the child.

"She kept telling him 'no' and he doesn't like that word", the child admitted, "He gets mad if you don't do what he tells you to do".

"Do you remember anything else about Eliza?", the woman asked her.

Alessandra nodded, "She fell down the stairs when she first got to the cabin", the little one said with a slight shake of her head, "You have to be careful on the cabin stairs because they aren't safe".

"Do you remember anything about what she looked like?", Melody asked Allie.

Allie paused for a moment, "She had red hair like fire and she was wearing black jeans and a Red Sox top. The Red Sox are my favourite".

" **That matches the description of one of the bodies, the one that was buried beneath the tree near where the swing was", Agent Derrick Jackson revealed, "The female body estimated to be between 18-25 was wearing remnants of a baseball jersey along with what appeared to be black skinny jeans, decomposition was too much to formally identify from her facial features and even if we could we don't have a photograph although there is someone working at the lab to create a facial reconstruction of her so that we can put out alerts and find out who knew her".**

"Do you remember anything else Alessandra?", the FBI Psychologist asked her gently.

 _Later that evening, Alessandra had fallen asleep in the hole with her blanket and a stuffed toy with Eliza's jacket as a pillow._

" _It's her… isn't it?", Eliza asked gently, "The little girl that they're all looking for?"._

 _Lilianna watched the sleeping child before nodding, "Yeah"._

" _She seems rather calm for a kidnapped child, don't you think?", Eliza asked with slight confusion._

" _I've been here for just over a week I think… I'm not sure exactly how long", Lili said as she glanced towards Eliza, "and from what I can see, I don't think she knows"._

" _What do you mean?", the red-headed woman asked her, "That she was kidnapped or her family were killed?"._

" _Both", she answered simply, "She calls him Santa, she was taken on Christmas Eve, and she thinks that her mother is coming so I find myself telling her that her mother will come soon and that she has to be patient". Lili sighed, "I know I'm lying to her but she needs to have hope, she needs to know that someone will come and rescue her", she said softly, "She had me write my name on the wall inside the gra… inside the bed. You should do it too"._

" _Why?", Eliza asked as she looked towards the hole or grave._

" _She wants people to write their names on the wall before they have to go home", she said softly, "She told me that… that there have been other women here with her". "I don't think they've gone home Eliza", Lilianna admitted with a sigh as a tear slid down her cheek, "and I don't think we will either, I'm not sure if any woman who comes here will but my main worry is that she might not go home either"._

 _Eliza was silent as she stared at the hole in the ground._

"No", the little one replied, "I don't remember anything else because she was gone when I woke up from my nap and Lili said that Eliza had gone home but that she had written her name on my wall so that I wouldn't forget her". "She had drawn a moon and a sun because I had said that her name was like the day and the night", Alessandra said with a smile.

 **A/N:**

 **LadyB3lla - I am glad that you think it was worth it! I am so grateful for your review.**

 **Yagirljayxx - Thank you for review, I am glad that you are excited about the next chapter!**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review! I am glad that you are enjoying the story!**

 **LaurenKnight13 - Thank you for your review! What a fabulous dose of positivity! Very much needed! How are your studies going? May I ask what level of study your doing? College? Undergraduate? Postgraduate?**


	44. Wednesday, January 11th Part I

Jane was lying in bed on her side with Alessandra curled up against her and with her arms wrapped around the little girl as tightly as possible without hurting or waking the little girl. She pressed a kiss to the top of her dark curls and buried her face against her slightly.

Maura opened her eyes at a slight but unusual sound, glancing around the room with curiosity as to what the sound was that she had heard as she had not yet fallen to sleep despite being in bed for just over an hour.

The Italian Detective sniffled slightly as reached her hand to brush a tear from her face.

It was then that she realised what the sound was that she had heard, "Jane?", she whispered, "What's wrong?".

"I'm worried Maur', I'm worried what's going to happen when she realises the truth about her mother, about her family", Jane revealed, "and I... I'm also worried that she won't want to be here anymore or that she already doesn't want to be, I'm worried she's just waiting for her mother to take her back". "I know it's selfish of me but I just don't... can't let her go Maur', I just can't".

"I know", the honey-blonde whispered softly, "I'm worried too Jane but I don't think we'll have to let her go". Maura looked down at Alessandra who was still sleeping peacefully in between them, "I don't think she will let go", she commented as the little one snuggled even closer to Jane. "It will be hard, I won't pretend that it won't be", she admitted, "But we will get through this, together".

Jane nodded and sighed slightly, "I just... I can't stand the thought of her hurting".

Maura nodded in return, "So do I", she replied, "but she will need to know eventually and when the time comes we will be there for her". "Right now, however, we have a very conflicted little girl", she said gently as she began to explain, "She wants her mother and has been made to believe that she will come back when we both know that isn't true but on the other hand she wants to be here with us and was been told repeatedly that you would be the one to save her so you are her point of safety".

"We", the Detective corrected resulting in a look of confusion from the Doctor, "We are her point of safety, not just me".

Doctor Isles nodded with a smile, "We", she whispered back as their voices remained quiet in order to prevent waking their daughter, "She is only five years old Jane and it's a lot for her to take in right now but she'll be okay and we will be with her every step of the way".

Jane nodded, "It's so easy to forget how young she really is", she admitted, "She's so bright, I imagine that you were a lot like her at her age".

Maura smiled at the comparison, "I don't recall ever liking baseball or as much sugar as she does so that I think is you".

Jane bit her lip to prevent laughing and after a moment leaned in to kiss Maura lovingly.

They soon fell asleep with their arms wrapped around each other and with their adoptive daughter sandwiched between them both in a secure embrace.

The following morning Jane awoke to the sound of giggling, she opened her eyes a little in order to see what was making the little one giggle as much as she was and she was greeted with the sight of Maura sitting up in bed with the child straddling her lap. Alessandra was sat with her legs either side of Maura's and the two of them appeared to be pulling faces at each other. Each time Maura pulled a face the little one giggled and then copied her.

Doctor Isles put her hands on either side of her daughter's cheeks, "I love you", she said softly and quietly yet with passion and conviction, "I love you so much".

Alessandra smiled brightly, "I love you too", she said happily as she leaned into Maura and snuggled into her as the woman wrapped her arms around her tightly and held her close.

Jane smiled brightly as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

Maura looked up and when she noticed that her lover was awake, she smiled in her direction, "Good Morning Jane", she greeted.

Allie pulled back quickly and looked rather excited that the other woman was also awake, "Jane!", she exclaimed as she threw herself at the Detective.

Detective Rizzoli let out a slight 'oompf' more for dramatic purposes than from the impact of the child launching at her. The sound made the small girl giggle which soon turned into squeals as the dark-haired woman began to tickle her.

Later on that day after a healthy breakfast at home, thankfully not muesli or 'poison' as Jane had called it, the family of three were at the precinct and yet again they found themselves in the interview room that had been set-up for children.

Alessandra was sat at the table drawing a picture with both Jane and Maura when Doctor Kingston entered the room. Allie looked up at the door when she heard it opening and tensed for a moment, however, when she realised who it was that had entered she visibly relaxed a little again.

Doctor Kingston smiled at the alterations in body language that the child was exhibiting, "Good Morning Alessandra", she said with her usual bright smile and English accent.

"Good Morning", the child repeated back with a smile briefly before turning her attention back to her drawing as the adults greeted each other.

"What have you been drawing Alessandra?", the Psychologist asked with a smile as she knelt down on the floor at the opposite side of the table.

"Home", she said simply as she reached out to get another colour from the basket of crayons before returning to her drawing.

"Can you tell me about it?", Melody asked politely as she observed the child drawing with a multitude of bright colours.

Alessandra looked up at her before looking back down at her drawing, "This is the house", she said as she pointed it out, "Then that's Mommy with her Doctor clothes on and Mamma with her Detective badge". "Then that's me in the middle and I'm holding on to their hands", the little girl pointed out, then leaning forward she whispered, "That way nobody can take me away".

"Why would someone take you away?", the woman asked her gently.

She thought for a moment and then shrugged, "I don't know but… Santa did it before so…".

"You think that you'll be taken away from Jane and Maura?", Melody asked.

Alessandra nodded, "I don't want to be taken away though", she said softly, "I want to stay".

Jane went against the usual protocol that had been set in place for the interviews and picked the child up, turning her around to face her, "Look at me my Tesoro", she requested gently.

Allie looked up at her, appearing a little nervous.

"I won't ever let anyone take you away from us", Jane said with determination and conviction in her voice, "I promise you that Maura and I will always do everything we can to protect you".

Alessandra simply leaned into the Detective and hugged her silently.

"Do you understand Tesoro?", she asked softly, wanting to confirm it, "Do you understand that you aren't going anywhere?".

The little girl nodded, "Promise?", she asked as she looked up at her.

"I promise with all of my heart", the Italian woman confirmed as she hugged her tightly against her.

Doctor Melody Kingston remained quiet and observed for a moment as the child was reassured.

Maura pressed a kiss to the side of Allie's head and put her hand over the top of Jane's arm.

After leaving them to embrace for a few minutes, Melody spoke gently, "Alessandra? Can you turn around for me please?".

The little girl reluctantly turned around but remained on Jane's lap and said nothing as she leaned back into the woman whose arms yet again tightly embraced her and held her closely.

"I have a surprise for you", Melody Kingston said with a smile, "Would you like to see what it is?".

Alessandra smiled and nodded eagerly, although there were also physical signs of hesitancy in her facial expressions as she wondered what it would be.

"Do you remember telling me about your bear? The one wearing the uniform?", the blonde-haired woman questioned.

The little girl nodded in confirmation but remained silent.

"Wel…", Melody said as she reached into the bag that she had beside her, "I thought you might like him back". She had pulled the bear out of the bag and placed it on the table, it had been cleaned and fixed before being brought to the precinct as it had been previously in the evidence lockers much like many of the items from the cabin.

Alessandra's bright blue eyes lit up with joy as she saw the bear for the first time in a long while and she reached out and pulled it close to her, embracing it tightly, even tighter than what Jane was hugging her. "Thank you", she said to Melody as she gripped the bear with a smile.

Doctor Kingston smiled happily at the young girl, "Now, I know you've looked at a few photos already but do you think it would be okay if you could take a look at some more today for me?".

Allie nodded, she had already become used to the pattern of coming into the room and playing for awhile and then looking at photos before answering the woman's questions.

"That's great", the English woman said enthusiastically to her.

Melody placed her brown folder yet again on the surface of the small table, glancing up towards the child in order to observe her initial reaction to the photograph that was being presented to her. She opened it and pushed the photo forward towards the little girl.

The photo was of a woman with long dark hair that went down to her shoulders and began to curl around half way down its length, she wore an emerald green dress which was ruffled on the singular wide strap of the mostly silk dress. From the background it appeared that she was at a function of some sorts whether it was a birthday party or a wedding reception, it was unclear from the image alone.

"Alessandra?", Melody prompted, "Could you tell me who this is?".

The little girl had been silent as she tugged the photo closer to her, her bad arm was holding the stuffed toy whilst her other hand was resting on the side of the photo as she stared down at it. "Laura", she said quietly, "That's Laura".

"Do you know what Laura's last name was?", the Psychologist asked her gently.

"Vause", Allie said instantly, "I remember because she was with me for a really long time, not as long as Thalia though".

"Do you remember how long she was with you?", the woman asked her carefully, avoiding switching to Thalia as she wanted to concentrate on one victim at a time so that it would make interviewing the child much easier.

"I'm not sure", Alessandra said as she thought deeply for a moment, "but I do know that it was more than a month".

" **29-year-old Laura Vause was missing for five weeks", Agent Summers stated as she stood looking through the observation window, "She was abducted in broad daylight outside a bar on March 1st. She was part of an FBI investigation and a team were due to begin surveillance the following day".**

" **What investigation?", Korsak questioned.**

" **We suspected that she was involved in drug smuggling internationally", Agent Derrick Jackson replied.**

"Do you remember what happened when you first met her?", Doctor Kingston asked the little girl.

Alessandra did not take her eyes off of the photo as she nodded, "Lili had gone home at night just before I went to sleep and then the next day Laura came", she said with a smile, "We went out for a drive, Santa rarely ever let me go out for a drive with him but that day he let me".

 _The sun was shining in the sky as the car drove through the streets of Boston, it was another replacement car as he kept switching them out so that it would be harder for law enforcement to track which car he was using and when. The little girl in the passenger seat was curled up a little with her belt on and she was watching the world go by out of the window. She was wearing a little blue dress although it had a bit of dirt around the bottom of it and the material only reached her knees._

" _I have a special task for you to do today Alessandra", Hoyt said with a smirk as he drove, "Do you want to know what that is?"._

 _Alessandra nodded although she felt a little uncertain but pushed the feeling aside and put on a happy face._

" _Today you are going to choose who comes to live with us for a while", Hoyt stated, "You're going to point someone out and then my 'friend' here will go and ask her very_ _ **nicely**_ _if she would like to stay with us"._

 _Little Alessandra Mai smiled and nodded, "I really get to choose who comes to stay with us?"._

 _Hoyt nodded, "You sure do", in a way that was far from innocent._

 _Allie was consciously unaware of the implications of what was happening, but she did ask, "What if she doesn't want to come and live at the cabin?"._

" _Don't you worry about that, you just worry about picking someone", he responded to her with slight annoyance in his tone of voice._

 _The tired little girl nodded, she was still sleepy from the medication that had been in her last bottle of water as well as the fact that she had not slept very much the night before due to the fact that she wanted Lilianna back with her._

" _Okay", she said simply as she sat up straighter and started to look out of the window._

" _See anyone you like?", the horrid man asked her as they drove through the streets at a lower speed than what he would normally but whilst being observant of who was around them that may recognise him or the child despite the fact that the little girl had on a big pair of sunglasses to hide her identity which the child thought was simply to help her hide from the sun's glare._

" _Erm…", Alessandra smiled and nodded before pointing out a woman on the sidewalk, "Her… I like her"._

 _Hoyt looked to where the child was indicating, "David, you know what to do", he simply said._

 _The woman was stood on the sidewalk on her own, she appeared to be in her late twenties whilst she was wearing a pair of tight jeans along with a grey t-shirt and was smoking a cigarette. Her hair reached just past her shoulders and curled a bit at the bottom whilst on the top of her head were a pair of designer sunshades and on her feet were a pair of grey heels._

"Why did he let you go with him that day Alessandra? Do you know?", Doctor Kingston asked her.

Alessandra nodded, "He wanted me to choose", she said looking up at Melody.

"Choose what?", Melody questioned.

" **Please tell me he didn't get her to choose what I think he did", Frost exclaimed as he ran his hand over his face with a groan.**

Alessandra paused for a moment as she again looked down at the photo, "A new woman to live with us and to help take care of me".

" **Oh God", Detective Frost groaned.**

" **Shit", Korsak whispered in disbelief.**

 **Agent Summers shook her head, "He made her choose a victim".**

" **I doubt she's even aware that that was what she did", Agent Shemar Morgan pointed out, "She's far too calm right now for her to be aware".**

Jane and Maura sat in silence, shocked by what they were hearing.

"And you chose Laura?", Melody questioned, forcing herself to stay calm and to smile at the little one through the interview.

Alessandra nodded with a big smile, "He asked me to pick so I chose Laura and then he sent David to go and ask her if she would like to come and live with us at the cabin", she said, clearly happy about her choice which showed how unaware she was of the implications of what she had actually been made to do, "I was worried that she wouldn't want to come and live with us but Santa said not to worry". "He was right though because she did want to come and live with us", she continued.

 _David got out of the backseat of the car, he had just come from work so he had on a pair of black trousers and a pale blue shirt along with black work shoes. He walked with determination and with a focussed aim._

" **Do we have a David in the files?", Detective Frost asked.**

 **Agent Moore nodded, "Yeah, David Samuels was found dead on the property, we were notified yesterday afternoon that one of the unidentified bodies was his", the man stated, "He was 43-years-old and was working as a lawyer for the city".**

" **A lawyer?", the younger Detective said with raised eyebrows.**

" **He was fired in mid-March when he was accused of sexual assault by a coworker although the assault wasn't reported to police because the head of the firm decided that he didn't want the negative publicity that might come from the case", Shemar stated, clearly unimpressed with the handling of the incident.**

 _The smoking woman looked up at him and raised her eyebrow, "What do you want?", she asked him with attitude in her voice when it got close to her._

" _You're going to come with us", he said with an air of arrogance and confidence as he spoke to the lone woman._

" _And why an earth would I do that?", she said with a roll of her eyes and another drag on the cigarette that she was holding._

 _David smirked, "Do you see the car behind me?", he asked._

 _She looked past him at the car that was only a few meters away from them, "Yeah, so?", she replied._

" _Do you see the little girl in the car?", he then asked her._

 _The woman looked at the car again, this time she focused on the child rather than the car or the other occupant, "Yeah…"._

" _Well if you don't come with me then I will have to kill her", he said with an evil grin._

" _Why an earth would you do that?", she questioned._

" _She annoys me", he said simply, "She needs someone to look after her so that will be you". "So this is what is going to happen, you are going to come with me and you're going to smile at the child and pretend that it's what you want", David demanded, "She needs someone to take care of her and she chose you, so you have two choices; the first is that you come with us and the second is that I cut her throat in the middle of the street"._

" _You sick fuck", she spat out._

" _Oh you've seen nothing yet", he said in a manner that would rival any villain._

"What happened when David went to ask her?", Melody prompted.

Alessandra shrugged slightly, "I'm not sure because I couldn't hear them but I know that they were talking for awhile and she was smoking then she was looking at me", she said softly, "Then she came and climbed into the backseat of the car". "Santa made me climb into the back too when she got in and David helped her in before he closed the door", she stated, "Then we all went back to the cabin".

 **A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews, favourites, and alerts!**

 **Laurenknight13 - Good luck with your studies, I am sure you'll do great! Thank you for taking the time to review!**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - At the moment she doesn't really have a full understanding of any of that but gradually her understanding will develop. I love the babble! I am glad that you are enjoying the story and thank you so much for your review!**

 **Sally rally - Thank you for your review! Each one of the names has been inspired by a variety of different actors/actresses and characters mostly. Would you like me to write out the inspirations ( which I was planning to do at some point anyway) and we can see if you're right about all of them?**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review!**

 **Angel Torrelino - Thank you for taking the time to review, I am glad that you are liking the story so far!**


	45. Wednesday, January 11th Part II

Doctor Melody Kingston smiled encouragingly at the little girl before prompting her to continue, "What happened next Alessandra?", the blonde woman asked her softly.

 _Hoyt had given her a bottle of water to drink shortly after his accomplice had gotten out of the car, yet again it was laced with a drug that would result in her falling to sleep._

 _Alessandra Mai yawned as she looked at the dark-haired woman, "Are you coming back to the cabin with us?", she asked politely._

 _David coughed slightly to remind her of the threat._

 _The young woman flinched slightly at the sound but then looked at the little girl with a forced smile, "Yeah kid, I guess I am", she said despite not wanting to be in the car and not wanting to go with them, however, she simply could not allow them to harm the child, she recognised her but she could not place where from. It was something that was bugging her and in addition to that, she simply could not risk harm coming to such an innocent child._

" _What's your name?", Allie asked the woman, looking up at her with tired looking, but still sparkling, blue eyes._

 _The 'newly acquired victim' smiled gently at the child before replying to her, "My name is Laura"._

" _Laura what?", the little one replied instantly, she liked to the last name of each of the women that came to stay with them and looked after her, she was not fully aware of why she wanted or felt like she 'needed' to know that information but subconsciously she was memorising who was coming with them, sensing the danger. Her mind was protecting her from the reality, not letting her see what her subconscious knew or at least suspected. Her own mind was protecting the innocence of her mind._

 _Laura smiled, answering her question without hesitation, "Vause", she replied, "Laura Vause"._

 _The curly-haired child yawned, covering her mouth with her right hand, "My name's Alessandra", she said softly, both were keeping their voices to a low enough level as to now annoy the two men in the front of the car._

" _Alessandra what?", Laura said with a slight smirk, she was simply repeating what the child had asked her only moments ago._

 _Allie giggled very lightly, "Alessandra Mai Harmon", she responded with a bright smile before yawning again._

" _Come here", she indicated as she put her arms out to the clearly sleepy child, "Are you tired?"._

 _The little girl nodded, "Water makes me sleepy", she whispered as she moved closer to the woman and snuggled up to her._

 _She did not notice how Laura froze at what she had said, she had not realised how important nor how shocking what she had said might be to someone else as this was her new 'normal', this was her life now, and despite the fact that she disliked the taste of the water as well as the fact it made her sleep, she knew that there was absolutely nothing that she could do about it, so she did what she was told and drunk the water whilst being fully aware of the consequences of the consumption of the clear but tainted water._

 _Laura held the child closely against her, a small head lying in her lap, and she found herself watching the child as she fell asleep. She observed her innocence as she slipped into a forced slumber before she glanced up towards the two men in the front, she was angry at them for what they had done to her but even more angry about what she had just discovered. How could they drug a child? Why would they drug a child?_

 _As the car made its way along the street, Laura looked out of the window at her surroundings, and as the car came to a stop at a red light she seriously contemplated the idea of simply opening the door up and running away, taking the child with her. It was then that she saw it. A poster stuck on a lamp post. It was a photo of the little girl that was currently lying with her head in her lap. Laura glanced down at the child and then back up to the poster in order to double check. It was her for certain. It was then that she realised where she remembered her from and why._

 _The poster had two different photos of the little girl along with the logo of the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children with their contact details along with the contact details of the correct precinct. One of the photos was labelled as the 'most current' photo, of which had been taken from the family camera as it had been taken on Christmas Eve, the day that her family had been murdered and that she had vanished from her family abode. The second photo was her school photo that had been taken only a few months previously. _

_The capitalised title of 'Endangered/Missing' that had been written at the top of the poster and centred was written in a bright red coloured font along with the subtitles of the poster whilst the rest was written in black including her name which was directly beneath the red title of the poster but all of it was in a simple and easy to read font that was used for all of their posters._

 _ **ENDANGERED/MISSING**_

 _ **ALESSANDRA MAI HARMON**_

 _Beneath the title were two photos, the larger and more recent photo was more centred whilst the secondary photo was to the right of that but slightly smaller, both with black subtitles beneath them. Underneath the large photo was a brief description of her disappearance;_

 _ **Alessandra was last seen on December 24th 2015. She may still be in the local area. Alessandra was last seen wearing white pyjamas and partially covered with a blanket when she was removed from her family home by serial killer Charles Hoyt following the murder of her mother, father, and three siblings.**_

 _A small photo of the monster himself had been added to the poster in order for the public to be on the look-out for him too. Beneath the description and photo was the location._

 _ **Missing From: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.**_

 _On the right side of the poster, beneath the child's school photo was the informational data concerning the missing child._

 _ **DOB: June 14th, 2011**_

 _ **Missing: December 24th, 2015**_

 _ **Height: 3'00" (91.44cm)**_

 _ **Eyes: Blue**_

 _ **Race: White**_

 _ **Age Now: 4**_

 _ **Sex: Female**_

 _ **Weight: 30lbs (13.6kg)**_

 _ **Hair: Dark Brown**_

 _They were not at the lights long enough for Laura to read every single word that was on the missing poster for the little girl but she was able to see the photos and to read enough of the information to be certain that the little girl that was now sleeping in her lap, was indeed the missing child who had been taken on Christmas Eve and who had featured on so many news reports with a multitude of rewards being offered for information leading to the safe return of the young girl._

 _Laura Vause was in shock, for the first time in her life, or at least that is what it felt like, she did not know what to do. The missing child that the country was looking for was asleep in her arms and she had no way of telling anyone. She had no way in that moment of rescuing her despite the fact that she was literally in her arms._

 _She had no hope of being able to escape the locked car and she knew that it would be too much of a risk to attempt to alert anyone that was out on the streets around them so she remained silent and opted to watch the missing child sleep in her lap, silently hoping that one day soon she would be able to get the child away from the horrid men who had drugged her but in the meanwhile she hoped that she would be able to protect her from any harm that may come to her during their time trapped with the two monsters._

Alessandra bit her lip, "I'm not sure because I fell asleep, the water always made me sleep", she admitted with hesitation.

" **What was with that asshole and drugging the kid?", Frost exclaimed with frustration, the more he discovered about the case and what Hoyt had been doing, the more he found himself being angry and frustrated at it all.**

"That's okay", Doctor Kingston reassured her, "It's okay if you don't know".

The child remained silent as she sat on Jane's lap.

"What happened when you woke up?", Melody asked in order to prompt her to continue to talk.

Allie bit her lip lightly as she thought for a moment, "When I woke up we were in the basement again".

 _The little girl mumbled as she began to open her eyes, bright blue eyes looking around her as she took in her environment although still rather sleepy due to the after-effects of the sleeping drugs in her system._

" _Good Morning sleepyhead", Laura said with a forced calmness and small smile._

" _Is it morning already?", the child questioned._

 _Laura shook her head, "I don't think so", she said softly, "I was only messing with you"._

 _Alessandra nodded and yawned, "Oh, okay", she said simply as she moved to get into the woman's embrace as they both sat in the grave-like hole in the ground within the dimly lit and rather damp basement._

" _Do you always sleep down here?", Laura asked her gently as she found herself cradling the child in her arms in a protective manner._

 _The curly-haired child nodded but did not respond verbally, she rather liked her new carer although she had liked the other women too. She felt safer when there was someone down in the basement with her, she had chosen Laura because she had reminded her a bit of her birth mother and that alone made her smile._

 _Laura held her slightly tighter in her arms, disturbed by the fact that it was 'normal' for the child to sleep in the basement that she considered 'uninhabitable' for even an animal to live in, especially considering the fact that they were in a grave which was in actual fact the warmest part of the basement as it shielded them partially from the cool breeze that was coming from an unknown gap somewhere in the basement._

"What happened when you woke up in the basement?", Melody prompted after the little girl been silent for a few minutes.

"I remember that she hugged me but I can't remember what else", Alessandra reluctantly admitted to the F.B.I. Psychologist.

Melody smiled, "That's perfectly fine", she said calmly, "How about you tell me anything that you do remember? It can be anything from when she was with you".

Alessandra was sat for a moment as she thought about the woman, she was looking down at the photo in front of her as she tried to remember any information that she could about Laura Vause.

 **Agent Derrick Jackson's phone rang and he quickly picked it up, moving out of the way of the window and stepping towards the door, "Agent Jackson", he said instantly into the phone.**

 **The others glanced over in his direction but said nothing as they returned to observing the child's interview whilst listening to him.**

" **Right", he said with a nod, "And you're sure?".**

"I remember that she built me a swing in the backyard", Alessandra said with a bright smile, "It was made from a piece of wood that she found near the trees and some rope that she managed to find".

"Did you like it?", Melody asked her with a smile.

 **His question piqued the interest of the others in the room even more.**

" **Okay", Derrick said to the unknown person on the other end of the phone, "Bring her to the interview room's observation room".**

"I loved it", Alessandra replied, "she used to push me on it all the time when we were allowed outside".

"Were you allowed outside a lot when Laura was there?", the Psychologist asked her.

" **Right, I understand", he continued, "I'll ask Doctor Kingston to show Alessandra a photo of her in order to confirm the identification first, I don't want her seeing the child if it's a hoax".**

Allie nodded, "Yeah, it was strange because I hadn't been allowed outside that much before she got there", she said softly, "Although we were usually only allowed out at night which meant it was really cold out there but sometimes we got to go out in the daytime and if we were lucky it would be warm out".

 **The others were listening carefully to the F.B.I. agent on the phone despite the fact that they could only hear one side of the conversation.**

"Did you not have a coat?", Melody asked her.

"No", Alessandra said simply, "Laura didn't have one either".

 **Derrick ended the call and put his cell phone back into his jacket pocket before he spoke to his team and to the Detectives that were in the room with them, "We think we've found Georgia Daniels", the man said straight away, "We need Alessandra to positively identify the woman first, Agent Matthews and Agent Milano are with her now in an interrogation room". The F.B.I. team had a small section of the building reserved due to their close partnership with the precinct as it was the precinct that had called them in to help with it.**

"What else did you do when you got to go outside?", Doctor Kingston asked the little girl.

 **Korsak's eyebrows shot up, "They really think they've found her?", he questioned with doubt in his voice, "Alive?", he was clearly shocked at the idea of the red-headed woman surviving but then again it would explain why the body was never found at the cabin or elsewhere and why the case was not originally linked to the case until the woman's name had been mentioned by Alessandra. It had been her and her alone that had made them aware of the reality of the missing woman's case.**

"We played hide and seek once", Allie said with a smile but then she suddenly looked sad, "But Santa got mad at us for it because he said that we had to stay where they could see us and that meant that we weren't allowed to play that game anymore".

 **Agent Jackson nodded, "Agent Matthews said that a female came into the precinct an hour ago claiming to be Georgia Daniels after seeing the message that we put out on the news asking for information leading to the woman's location", he stated, "She has red hair and green eyes like Alessandra described, and she appears to be able to tell us very similar information to what Alessandra told us in her previous interview".**

Alessandra paused for a moment, "We were allowed to sit by the fire some nights too, Santa lit the fire because he liked to drink his beer next to it with his friends".

"Was it the same friend that came with you to get Laura?", she asked the child.

" **Then why didn't she come forward sooner?", Frost questioned.**

Allie nodded, "Yeah he was there sometimes", she said with a sigh.

"Did you not like him?", Melody asked despite thinking it possibly being perceived as a rather silly question, it did mean that she would discover how Hoyt's accomplices interacted with the child and the female victims that came to the cabin.

" **According to Piper", he said referring to Agent Matthews, "She was able to escape approximately two months ago but they had threatened to harm her and her sister if she were to go to the police or contact any law enforcement at all".**

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she said simply, "He was mean to Laura".

"What do you mean Alessandra?", Melody asked the previously kidnapped child, "What did he do that was mean?".

" **So what changed?", Frost enquired.**

Allie Mai paused, "He hit her", she admitted.

"In front of you?", the blonde-haired woman questioned.

Alessandra nodded, seeming upset by the idea, "He hit her in the face when she wouldn't go with him".

" **Her sister died two weeks ago and we only put the alert out for information after Alessandra informed us of the information", he highlighted.**

"Where did he want her to go?", Doctor Kingston asked her.

" **Right, so what now?", Agent Jennifer Summers asked her superior.**

"Upstairs", she stated simply without any further explanation.

"Do you know why he wanted her to go with him?", the Psychologist prompted.

" **Piper and Rose will send us a photo of the woman then I…", his phone pinged as he spoke, "that would be the photo", he said as he extracted it from his pocket. "I will take it into Doctor Kingston where she will show it to Alessandra in order to try and identify the woman and to confirm her identity", he stated, "Then both Agents will bring Georgia, if she is identified as being her, here to the observation room where she will be able to see Alessandra through the glass. She's requested to see the child when Alessandra was mentioned in the interview but she has been told that she can not have contact with the child at this moment in time".**

Alessandra shook her head but did not respond verbally.

Doctor Kingston offered a small smile, "That's okay if you don't remember", she replied calmly, "Do you know why she didn't want to go with him?".

Alessandra nodded as she looked back down at the photo that was still on the table in front of her, "She wanted to stay with me", she stated after a moment of silence, "She said that she needed to look after me".

 **Each of them, in turn, looked at the photo of the woman who was claiming to be 'Georgia 'Georgie' Daniels', all agreeing that there was a possibility it was her based on the description as well as the information that the woman was able to give the other two agents.**

"What happened when she said that she didn't want to go?", Melody knew that he had hit the woman but she wanted to know more about what happened before and after that event.

The child was hesitant to speak, clearly rather nervous, but she continued, "David hit her across the face", she repeated, "You're not supposed to hit people".

"No", Melody said softly, "You're not, are you?", she agreed when the child paused.

Alessandra shook her head, "Then he grabbed her by her hair", she said softly, her eyes not leaving the photograph of the woman, "and I screamed, I wanted him to stop but he wouldn't stop". "He told me to shut up and he said bad words", Allie stated, her breathing creating a shuddering pattern as she paused for a moment.

Jane held her a little tighter and pressed a loving kiss to the side of her head to remind her that she was there for her, that **they** were there for her.

The child calmed a little in Jane's embrace and then continued, "He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her up the stairs", she said without looking up, not even once, "I heard her screaming and then it went quiet".

" **I think we're going to have to put off identifying Georgia for a while", Agent Summers highlighted.**

The child was silent after her revelation.

 **Agent Jackson agreed with his colleague.**

Melody observed the child's body language and facial expressions for a moment before speaking, "What happened after that Alessandra?", she prompted. It was never easy to have to prompt a child to speak about such difficult topics and experiences. Her first case was not easy and truth be told, the cases never did get easier but she knew that the day that the cases became easy for her and she became 'immune' to the horrors that she heard then it would be time to either retire or time for a new career because she knew that without that compassion and drive she would not be able to be effective in her role of helping the children that crossed her path.

"I'm not sure how long it was", the little girl began, "but after a while I could hear shouting and then Laura was thrown back down into the basement with me". Alessandra traced her finger over the woman's face in the photograph, "She had a mark on her face where he had hit her and her hair was a bit messy where he had grabbed it", she stated, "She had been crying but she said that she was okay and not to worry because everything would work out and we would get out of there". "She said that one day she would take me away from the cabin, that we would run away together", Allie said with a small smile, "She always spoke about running away". "She had a plan and everything", the little one said with a little amazement in her voice, suddenly switching from the depressing topic of abuse to the idea of running away into the sunset in a way that only a child could do.

Melody smiled, "What was the plan?", she asked gently.

Alessandra looked up at the woman and shook her head, "I can't tell you", she said simply.

"Why can't you tell me?", the F.B.I. employee asked her.

"Because it's a secret", Alessandra said with a smile, "It's our secret, just ours and nobody else's".

 _Laura Vause was lying in the 'grave-like' hole that had become her bed and hide-out over the past two weeks, "One day Allie, we're going to run away", she stated with a smile as she ran her hand through the child's mass of curls after having 'brushed' her hair with her fingers for a while in order to get the knots out of the mass of dark hair._

" _We are?", the little girl asked with eagerness in her bright blue eyes._

 _The dark-haired woman nodded, "We sure are", she stated, "We're going to run away from here to somewhere safe and we'll never have to come back here again"._

" _Never?", she questioned._

" _Never", she repeated with determination in her voice._

" _Where will we go?", Alessandra asked with a smile, clearly interested in the idea that the woman was proposing._

" _Hmm…", Laura said softly as she thought about it for a moment, "Where would you like to go?", she asked._

 _Alessandra tapped her lip as she thought about it making Laura smile with amusement, "I want to go to the beach", she said after a moment._

" _The beach, huh?", Laura Vause asked._

 _Allie simply nodded with a huge smile, clearly, the idea of running away to the beach was cheering her up from her previously silent mood._

 _Laura grinned, "Well, then that is where we shall go", she declared, she had grown accustomed to hiding her fear and sadness around the child, the little girl did genuinely boost her mood, however, she was still affected by the fact that she was in actual fact a kidnap victim and being abused by a psychotic serial killer as well as his accomplices. She knew, however, that for the sake of little Allie, she needed to hide the negative emotions and focus on the wellbeing of the girl._

" _We can really go to the beach when we run away?", the little one asked with an excited smile, clearly she was rather fond of the beach._

 _Laura nodded, "We sure can, we can live by the beach in a lovely beach house and build sandcastles every single day". She was building a fake world for them to live in and she knew it but she was holding on to hope, desperately grasping at it as each day it slipped further and further out of her reach, "Would you like that?", she asked softly._

 _Alessandra nodded with a grin, "I would love that", she said happily, "We can swim in the water too"._

"Well in that case, I guess I shouldn't ask anything else about then, huh?", Melody asked with a smile.

The child smiled, "Nope", she said with a burst of happiness and a slight pop on the letter 'p'.

It was then that there was a slight knock on the door, the agents had deemed it a correct time to interrupt the interview.

Agent Summers opened the door slowly, she had been chosen to speak to Doctor Kingston as they thought that Alessandra may be less disturbed if it was a female agent that entered the room.

Alessandra's eyes went wide and she flinched back further into Jane's arms before observing the blonde agent closely, she recognised her but had not spoken much with her. She did, however, calm a little when she realised who it was as she did not perceive her to be a threat.

"Doctor Kingston?", Jennifer said softly, keeping her voice quiet but audible in order to not frighten the child, "Would it be possible to have a word outside? It won't take long".

Melody nodded, she knew that in order for them to interrupt her during the interview then it must be rather important, "Of course", she replied before turning back to Alessandra, "I will be back in a moment Alessandra".

"Okay", Allie said quietly and nodded in response.

The little girl was snuggled up with Jane and Maura, both women hugging her and making a 'fuss' of her to make sure that she felt okay as well as to determine whether or not she was okay to continue with the interview. Both women were curious as to why the interruption had happened but they knew that without leaving the child's side they could not enquire as to why Doctor Kingston had been called out of the room. The did know, however, that they would know soon enough what the reasoning behind it was.

Only a few mere minutes passed before the English woman returned to the room but this time with a phone in her hand.

The other three people in the room watched her as she entered and as she returned to her previous position at the table, "Alessandra?", Melody said softly, "I know that we were talking about Laura, but would it be okay if I showed you another photo?".

Alessandra nodded but she kept her hand on the edge of Laura's photo, not returning it to the Psychologist.

"We want to make sure that the woman in the photograph that I'm about to show you is who she says she is", Melody continued, "But we really need your help for that, is that okay?".

The little girl once again nodded, glancing at the cell phone in the woman's hand but remained silent in her observations.

Doctor Melody Kingston placed the phone onto the table in front of her with the phone pointing in the direction so that the screen was up the correct way for the child to be able to see the photo of the red-headed woman.

Alessandra looked at the screen that was lit up with the face of a woman, a flash of recognition crossed her facial features as she looked at the screen.

"Would you be able to tell me who that is?", Melody prompted with both the other two women watching on as well as those in the observation room behind her.

Allie nodded, "That's Georgia", she stated, "The one I told you about before, the one that looked like Ariel from the Little Mermaid".

"Are you sure?", Doctor Kingston asked gently.

"Yes", she stated simply, "Did you find her so that you could ask her your questions?".

" **What now?", Frost asked following the confirmation of the woman's identity.**

" **Now we let Georgia come into the observation room so that she can see that Alessandra is okay", Agent Jackson stated, "She's refusing to answer any further questions until she knows that she's safe".**

Melody smiled and nodded, "We sure did".

Alessandra smiled happily, "That's good", she stated.

"It sure is", she confirmed, "Thank you so much for your help", she said placing the phone on the side.

A few moments later, Agent Summers returned to the room to take back the cell phone as they did not want it to ring whilst it was in with the child and also they needed it.

 **Meanwhile, in the observation room, they were awaiting the arrival of the other two agents as well as Georgia Daniels.**

 **When Georgia arrived in the room, escorted by both Rose and Piper, she was wearing a pair of jeans that had roses running down the side of one of the legs and a white tank top along with a green jacket that matched the green on the leaves in the rose design. She seemed nervous as she entered the room and was tugging at her sleeves.**

 **The agents moved out of the way as she was ushered into the middle, near the window.**

 **Georgia gasped at the sight of the little girl, she was much cleaner than when she had last seen her and much happier too as the child seemed to be playing with a doll in the interview room having finished the interview for the day. "She's safe", the woman whispered, more to herself rather than to anyone that was in the room with her.**

 **The others observed her as she placed her hand ever so gently on the glass of the observation window, "I wondered for so long when I was stuck in that house", she stated, "I wondered if she was safe, I hoped… I had hoped that she had been rescued". Georgia turned to look at the agents for a moment, "How long?", she asked, "How long ago did you find her?".**

" **We found her on New Year's Day", Agent Morgan stated.**

" **But that", Georgia's green eyes were wide, "That was only ten days ago". "You mean she was with that monster for all of this time?", she questioned in disbelief.**

 **They went silent, until Agent Summers spoke, "I'm afraid so", she said simply.**

 **Georgia shook her head as she looked back into the interview room.**

" **Are you ready to answer the remainder of our questions now?", Agent Matthews asked her patiently.**

 **The red-headed woman nodded, "Yes", she said simply, "But can I… can I stay here while I do?". She paused after asking her question, "It's just that I spent so long wondering, I mean there wasn't exactly anything else to do in that place when they left me alone, other than think".**

 **The agents were clearly unsure but eventually, Agent Matthews nodded, "Of course", she stated simply.**

 **Georgia smiled softly in her direction, "Thank you", she replied.**

" **Right", Agent Matthews began, "What happened on the night that you were abducted?".**

" **I was walking to a nightclub downtown, it had just opened and I was meeting up with some friends from work", Georgia told them, "I was a couple of blocks away when someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me into an alleyway". The woman took a deep breath before continuing, "I could smell cheap aftershave and beer", she said, "I didn't see his face at first but he said that if I screamed then he would cut my throat".**

 **The agents listened carefully as the woman told her story, she told them of the sexual assault that she suffered in the alleyway that night, and she told them about how she was forced into the back of a vehicle with a scalpel being held to her throat.**

" **When I was forced into the back of the car, I was surprised to see a child in the front seat", Georgia stated, "She was fast asleep and curled up as if there was nothing at all wrong but I suppose for her there wasn't anything wrong".**

" **What happened after you were forced into the vehicle?", Agent Matthews prompted, the other agents were letting her take the lead on the questioning as they did not want to bombard the woman with too much as she was in actual fact a victim herself and not an accomplice of Hoyt's.**

" **He drove for a while and at one point he was on the phone to someone, someone he was calling Leon", she answered, "He was talking about me, saying how he had me in the car and… how I was just perfect for him". Georgia took a shuddering breath, "I knew then that it was going to get so much worse", she stated, "I just knew it from the way that he was talking".**

" **And then what?", the agent prompted again.**

" **It wasn't long after that that the child woke up in the front seat", Georgia said with her focus being on the curly-haired child on the other side of the glass, "She was so cute as she rubbed her eyes in that sweet little way that only kids do". "She was told that she wasn't allowed to look at me, I think it was because of the blood that was on my legs, he seemed to be hiding the truth from her… or at least that is what I suspected in the short time that I was with them in that car", the woman said softly, "She did look at me though, when she thought that he wasn't watching or aware of what she was doing". "She asked me what my name was and she told me hers", Georgia continued, "It wasn't until I had left the car and was on my way up to the front door of a house that I had never been to that I realised who she was".**

" **Do you remember anything about the house?", Agent Matthews asked her, "A location?".**

" **1187 Millin Street", the kidnapping victim responded, "I know because I saw the number and street name on the way into the house as well as when I managed to run away".**

" **How did you escape?", the agent asked.**

 **Georgia continued to observe the child, "The door was left open, I had been there for months and they had begun to let me stay downstairs in the main part of the house rather than the bedroom on the top floor although only for short periods of time", she revealed, "I saw it open and I took my chance, I just ran and kept running".**

 **Agent Matthews as the woman had already told them what happened after that, she had stated her reasoning for not stepping forward sooner, and she had told her of what happened after she left the house of horrors.**

" **Was anyone else in the house with you?", Piper asked her gently, "Any other women or children?".**

 **Georgia shook her head, "I don't recall ever seeing anyone else, just Leon and his friends", she stated, despite being unaware of other victims, what she did not know was that there had been a few before her and there had been another after her as well as a couple of victims that had been killed during her time in captivity although they had not stayed in the same area of the house that she did, they never put two victims in the same room together as they wanted to isolate them.**

" **Do you remember Leon's last name? Or the names of his accomplices?", Agent Piper Matthews asked her gently.**

 **The red-headed woman bit her lip gently as she thought for a moment, watching as the little girl was starting to put her coat on and tug one of the women towards the door, "Leon's last name was Carroll, I remember seeing it on some mail at the house", she said as she watched the child, "I don't know the names of all of the others".**

 **They listened patiently as the woman explained that although she had been forced to have sex with the men, she did not always know their names and she did not always see them again.**

" **There was; David, Raphael, August, Killian, and Robin", Georgia stated, "but I don't know any of their last names and I don't know the names of any of the others".**

" **If we were to show you some photos would that be okay?", the agent asked her cautiously.**

Alessandra had decided that she was bored of the interview room and was sat in the cafe with both Jane and Maura waiting for their order of pancakes that Angela had agreed to make especially for them as a reward for how brave the child had been that day.

 **Georgia Daniels nodded, "Of course", she said simply, she wanted to help, she truly did, and she was feeling so much braver than she had done previously, especially with the fact that the F.B.I. had offered the concept of witness protection for her following her interviews.**

 **Agent Morgan indicated towards a laptop that he had opened up where there were a multitude of photos on the screen, "I would like you to take a look at these and let us know if you recognise any of them as those that you've identified".**

 **Georgia nodded as she moved closer to the screen, it wasn't long before she was identifying David who happened to be the same man that Alessandra had described, and then she managed to identify Killian, Robin, August, Leon, and Raphael as well as pointing out six other men that she did not know the names of but that she recognised.**

It was almost an hour later when Georgia Daniels was finally on her way out of the precinct being escorted by two of the agents; Summers and Matthews.

The red-headed woman found herself feeling a little more hopeful about the future now than she had been previously, she found herself seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, the safe place that witness protection was seemingly offering her.

"Georgia!", a little voice shouted out.

Georgia turned her head towards the cafe instantly at the sound of the child's voice and ignored the agent's warnings as she moved forwards and towards the little one.

Alessandra smiled happily as she saw the woman, "Georgia", she said as she made her way to the woman, "Hi".

"Hi to you too", Georgia said as she knelt down.

The agents stood back an observed, knowing it was too late to pull her away now that Allie had seen her.

"Did they ask you their questions?", Alessandra asked her with a slight tilt of her head.

Georgia nodded, "They sure did", she responded with a smile.

Alessandra smiled, "They ask a lot of questions, don't they?", she whispered with a giggle.

The woman nodded in agreement.

"They ask me a lot too", the child stated, "Most days".

"That is because you are so clever that they need your help", she said knowing that it would be to do with the investigation.

"Do you still live with your daddy?", the little one questioned, "I don't live with Santa anymore, I got to move house and now I get to live with my Mommy and Mamma".

Georgia smiled sadly knowing that the little girl had thought she had gone to her father's house, so she pretended that she had, "No, I don't anymore", she said with a smile, "I'm going to a new house too". "It's really good that you get to live with your Mommy and Mamma though", she said softly, "I bet that's much more fun".

"Where are you going to live?", the girl asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"You know, I'm not sure", she said with a smile, "These agents here are going to make it a surprise for me because I love surprises".

Alessandra giggled, "Surprises are good, aren't they? Mamma surprised me with a piece of candy earlier but shhh… it's a secret", she said happily.

"That does sound like a good surprise", she stated, "Well, I have to go with these agents now because they're going to take me to my new house".

"Okay", the child responded simply with a smile.

Georgia paused for a moment, "Do you think I could get a hug before I leave?", she asked gently.

The two women that had adopted the child were hesitant in that moment, as were the agents but it was clear that the woman was not about to force the child into it.

Alessandra sighed gently, "I suppose that's okay, seeing as you're going away", she said softly as she stepped forward to allow the hug, although she herself did not initiate it.

Georgia wrapped her arms carefully around the child and hugged her cautiously, "Goodbye Alessandra", the 21-year-old woman said quietly as she extracted herself from the brief embrace.

"Bye Georgia", she said with a smile as the woman stood up and was soon being escorted away by the agents.

The woman looked back over her shoulder just before she stepped outside of the precinct, her green eyes met the blue eyes of the little girl and she smiled, knowing that the kid would be alright.

 **A/N: Right now, as I write this, I am supposed to be working on my assignment for my 'International Relations Theory' assignment on ethical perspectives, however, this does not appear to look anything like an essay to do with realism and liberalism, then again nor did the ballerina that I drew yesterday, or the cleaning that I've been doing so…. Do you think I can get an 'A' in the topic of procrastination?**

 **First I aimed for 25 chapters, then 40, and now I'm currently on chapter 45 and have announced a plan for 60. It makes me wonder how long this thing will actually be and when I will manage to finish it as well as how many of you decide to stay until the end. I think once the cases are done I will hold a vote as to what you would like to see as there will be optional chapters for; Easter (egg hunt), Alessandra's first birthday with them, July 4th/Jane and Maura's proposal/engagement, Alessandra's first day back at school, Alessandra's first Christmas with them, and Jane and Maura's wedding. So really when I say 50 chapters it could be more, when I say 60 it could still be more, and when I saw 70… well it seems to have a life of its own and I rather like writing this one so I hope you're enjoying reading it and haven't gotten bored of it yet.**

 **Vbbneighbor - Thank you so much for reviewing each of the chapters, I do love to see your doses of positivity! I can confirm that the debate went very well AND we won! I agree, he is rather 'sick', the choosing of the victim was not initially part of the plan but for some reason that is how it came out. I am glad that you are still enjoying the story and are looking forward to further chapters.**

 **Jo82 - Thank you for taking the time to review, I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for your review! I agree, he definitely is rather 'sick'.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for taking the time to review**

 **Sally Rally - Thank you for the review and here are the names….**

 **Character name inspirations;**

(Most were taken from wikipedia pages - actor, actress, character etc.

(Chapter 1)

 **Alessandra Mai Harmon** \- Alessandra was chosen because of it being ITALIAN (version of ALEXANDRA Cabot), Mai was random, and Harmon was Angie HARMON.

 **Michelle Jane Harmon** \- Angela MICHELLE HARMON and JANE Rizzoli.

 **Thomas Jethro Harmon** \- THOMAS Mark Harmon and JETHRO Gibbs.

 **Christian Lucas Harmon** \- Ty CHRISTIAN Harmon and LUCAS Davenport.

 **Tyler Sean Harmon** \- TY(ler) Christian Harmon and SEAN Harmon.

 **Kelly Elyse Harmon** \- ELYSE Knox and KELLY Gibbs.

 **Avery** \- AVERY Seahorn

(Chapter 3)

 **Angioletto** **Isles-Rizzoli** \- 'Little Angel' in Italian

(Chapter 5)

 **Anthony Weatherly** \- ANTHONY DiNozzo and Michael WEATHERLY

 **Marie Weatherly** \- MARIE Curie

(Chapter 12)

 **Juliana Bracco** \- Juliana as a form of JULIE Finlay, and Lorraine BRACCO

 **Peter Hunt** \- PETER Dunlop and Megan HUNT (no I do NOT ship these together - blah gross)

(Chapter 13)

 **Lisa Cuddy** \- LISA Edelstein and Lisa CUDDY.

(Chapter 15)

 **Maria** \- MARIA Jose De Pablo Fernandez

(Chapter 18)

 **Lauren Shepard** \- LAUREN Holly and Jennifer SHEPARD

 **Katherine Delaney** \- KATHERINE Mayfair and Dana DELANEY

 **Lilianna Thompson** \- Susannah THOMPSON

 **Laura Vause** \- LAURA Prepon and Alex VAUSE

 **Lucille Murphy** \- Kate MURPHY

(Chapter 19)

 **Josslyn DiNozzo** \- Anthony DINOZZO

 **Elaina D'Anton** \- The name D'Anton was written on a clock nearby when I was writing… Elaina? I have no clue!

 **Jennifer Bishop** \- JENNIFER Morrison, Emily BISHOP

 **Thalia Haines -** THALIA David

 **Charlotte Kent** \- Kent County (England, UK), CHARLOTTE's Web

 **Delilah Tattum** \- I like the name Delilah...

 **Stephanie Hargitay** \- STEPHANIE March, Mariska HARGITAY

 **Grace Nichols** \- Nicole NICHOLS

 **Susie Croft** \- Lara CROFT, SUSIE Chang

(Chapter 22)

 **Agent Derrick Jackson** \- Alternate spelling of DEREK Morgan

(Chapter 24)

 **Agent Jennifer Summers** \- JENNIFER Jareau

(Chapter 25)

 **Agent Maria Lopez** \- MARIA Jose De Pablo Fernandez and Jennifer LOPEZ

 **Alexia Ponti** \- Suzana S. Drobnjaković PONTI

 **Marcia De Pablo** \- MARCIA Cross and Cote DE PABLO

 **Cecee Hunter** \- Hunter boots...

 **Eliza Day** \- An alternative spelling to Elisa Day - 'The Wild Rose' story and 'Where the wild roses grow' Kylie Minogue song

 **Jennifer Prentiss** \- JENNIFER Jareau and Emily PRENTISS (Yes, I ship those!)

(Chapter 26)

 **Amanda Giddish** \- AMANDA Rollins and Kelli GIDDISH

(Chapter 27)

 **Doctor Edelstein** \- Lisa EDELSTEIN

(Chapter 28)

 **Leonardo** \- LEONARDO Fortunato Ponti

 **Alyssa** \- ALYSSA Milano

 **Olivia** \- OLIVIA Benson

(Chapter 30)

 **Agent Shemar Morgan** \- SHEMAR Moore and Derek MORGAN

 **Doctor Melody Kingston** \- MELODY Song and Alex KINGSTON

(Chapter 32)

 **Annabelle** \- Loving ANNABELLE

 **Julie** \- JULIE Andrews

 **Alex** \- ALEX(andra) Cabot

(Chapter 33)

 **Georgia 'Georgie' Daniels** \- GEORGIA Tennant and DANIEL Craig

(Chapter 45)

 **Agent Piper Matthews** \- PIPER Halliwell and Paige MATTHEWS

 **Agent Rose Milano** \- ROSE McGowan and Alyssa MILANO

 **Leon Carroll** \- LEON Vance and Rocky CARROLL

 **Raphael** \- RAPHAEL Sbarge

 **August** \- AUGUST Wayne BOOTH

 **Killian** \- KILLIAN Jones

 **Robin** \- ROBIN Hood

*Note: If a name has not been included it is because there was either no direct inspiration and was more random or it was inspired by someone I know.


	46. Thursday, January 12th

The following morning Alessandra was sat in Jane's lap inside the interview room with Jo on the floor beside them with her head on the child's feet. Maura was beside them both, also on her knees. The little girl was snuggled up against the Detective making no attempts to play with the toys that were in the room with them that day, which was unlike each of the other days that she had been in the room for her interviews. Hooked underneath her 'bad' arm was her dolly whilst in her 'good' hand was a strawberry with the punnet on the table in front of them.

 **Doctor Kingston frowned slightly as she observed the child through the window, "Does anyone know what's wrong?", she questioned with the agents behind her along with Korsak and Frost, the Psychologist was unsure as to why she appeared to be so fatigued.**

" **Maura mentioned that she had a bad night last night", Korsak stated, "She had a nightmare and she didn't sleep properly".**

" **Jane was even more protective of her this morning when they came into the precinct", Frost revealed, "Allie was really quiet and Jane...well Jane's a bit cranky when she's tired".**

" **I'll bear that in mind", Melody said quietly as she continued to observe the three of them in the interview room, she knew that for them to turn up at the precinct that they had clearly decided that it was okay for the interview to go ahead.**

Alessandra had finished her strawberry when Jane leaned her head down to press a kiss to the child's head, "Would you like another?".

Maura did not even comment on the fact that all that the child had eaten that morning was strawberries, she had not tried to get her daughter to eat a more varied breakfast as she knew that the little one was tired.

The little girl nodded before Jane reached forward and extracted a strawberry from the punnet before passing it to her. Alessandra did not move out of Jane's embrace nor did she move her head from the woman's chest.

"Thank you", Alessandra said very quietly as she took the strawberry from the woman before starting to eat it.

Doctor Isles leaned her head on Jane's shoulder before putting her hand gently on Allie's leg, running her thumb left and right in a soothing motion.

 _Maura awoke suddenly to the sound of Alessandra screaming the word, "Stop!", and "Please!", before starting to sob._

 _Jane's eyes shot open as she instantly sat up in bed, looking around the room, and her eyes then settled on the little girl that was tossing and turning in the middle of the bed._

" _Shhh….", Maura whispered in a soothing tone as she ran her hand over the little girl's head._

 _The Detective pulled her closer and she very gently woke the little girl up, soothing her as best as she could. Jane pulled her daughter into her lap as she sat up in the bed._

" _I'm going to get some milk", Maura whispered softly, "Would you like some magic milk Allie?"._

 _Alessandra's bright blue eyes were wide and shining with tears as they darted around the room, she was clearly not registering anything as she looked around the room, and she was in a panic._

 _Jane reached out her hand and took hold of Maura's hand, "She's going to be okay", she reassured her lover, despite how worried she was herself._

 _Maura nodded, "I'll go and get the milk", she stated before she kissed the back of Jane's hand and got out of the bed. The woman grabbed her robe from the back of the door before she made her way downstairs to the kitchen in order to get the warmed milk for her adoptive daughter._

 _Doctor Isles was soon stood in the kitchen with a plastic jug of milk turning around in the microwave, she sighed heavily and leaned her elbows on the kitchen counter with her head in her hands. She was worried about her daughter, she hated to see the little one in such a state of fear, and even more to know that it was because of everything she had been through. The knowledge that her daughter had suffered so much throughout that year made her feel as if her heart physically hurting._

 _The microwave beeped loudly in the otherwise quiet kitchen and she moved straight away to open the door and extract the clear plastic jug from the machine before closing the door again. Maura carefully poured the warm milk into a plastic children's travel mug as she was unsure as to whether it would be a good idea for the young girl to have an open mug of warm liquid in the bed when she appeared to be so shaken with fear and anxiety._

 _Once Maura had sealed the mug she returned to her bedroom where she found Jane still sitting up in bed with Alessandra in her lap. The woman was softly singing a lullaby to their daughter in what appeared to be Italian._

 _Alessandra seemed to have calmed quite a bit as she leaned into Jane's chest and listened to the lullaby that was being sung to her. Her eyes were no longer darting around at such a rapid rate as they had been when she first awoke, however, they were still rather unfocused and still glittering with the evidence of tears, some of which had slid down her cheeks and created liquid tracks as they slid further down on her soft skin._

 _Jane had wrapped Allie in a fluffy blanket and she had placed the girl's doll in Alessandra's arms, both of which appeared to have helped calm the child a little bit. The small girl was, however, still shaking lightly with fear._

 _Maura stepped forward and quietly closed the door behind her, she thought that it might help to make her daughter feel a little more secure if the room was enclosed so that there would not be a risk of anyone entering the room with them through a wide open door._

 _Detective Rizzoli looked up in Maura's direction and smiled softly before continuing with her lullaby after Alessandra had tapped her hand ever so lightly with her fingertips._

 _The honey-blonde woman passed the travel mug to her lover as she herself climbed back into bed beside them both although she did remain sitting up just like Jane was._

 _Jane handed the children's travel mug to her daughter but found herself guiding it towards the child's mouth, assisting Alessandra's shaking hands._

 _Maura reached out and pushed a stray curl behind Allie's ear before brushing away some of the tears that had trailed down the child's face._

 _It took them quite a while to calm the child and even then she appeared reluctant to sleep, that was until she had finally exhausted herself whilst sandwiched between her two adoptive mothers._

"Are you sure you want to stay Allie?", Maura questioned the little one.

Alessandra nodded.

"Okay", Maura replied, "If you want to go home early, you can let Jane or I know, okay? We can leave whenever you want to".

The little one nodded, "Okay", she whispered in response to what her mother had said to her.

Jane gave the child a slight squeeze as she held her in her arms and then kissed the top of Alessandra's dark curls.

Melody opened the door carefully and quietly, knowing that the child may be a little skittish based upon what she had been told and also what she had witnessed as she had observed her for a little while from behind the glass along with the others.

Alessandra looked up straight away but she remained quiet as she observed the blonde Psychologist.

"Good morning Alessandra", she said in her strong English accent.

The little girl was silent for a moment so Melody gave her a moment to reply, "Good morning", she whispered very quietly in response, so quietly that it was almost inaudible to the woman that she was speaking to.

Doctor Melody Kingston smiled brightly at Alessandra as she walked further into the room and closed the door behind her. She knelt down beside the table, opposite the other people in the room with her back to the glass observation window. "How are you feeling today Alessandra?", the woman asked the child that was sitting directly opposite her.

Silence filled the room, the little one did not reply to the question but it seemed to be because she was unsure as to how to respond rather than out of the idea of ignoring the question.

"She's tired but other than that she appears to be okay", Maura replied on behalf of her daughter.

Melody nodded, "I was told about the nightmares last night", she said softly, "Would you like to tell me about what you were dreaming about last night Alessandra?".

Alessandra glanced up at the Psychologist and shook her head, "No", she whispered, "Can we look at pictures instead?".

Doctor Kingston was slightly hesitant but as the child appeared to want to look at photos, she nodded and placed her folder on the top of the table in front of her as she had placed it on the floor in order to reduce the pressure on the little girl. "Are you sure you want to look at the pictures today?", she asked her cautiously, purposely using the same term as what the child had used.

She nodded straight away in confirmation but did not verbally respond at all.

 **The photo was of a dark-haired woman with her hair up in a ponytail and a pair of dark sunshades on the top of her head. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans along with a white tank top which had ruffles around the neckline of it and she was sat on a bench with an ice cream cone in her left hand. The woman appeared to be at a theme park based on the background that was visible.**

"Okay", she said with a smile before she pushed the folder forward, keeping a very close eye on the facial expressions and body language of the child.

Alessandra watched as the folder in front of her was opened and there was a look of recognition that washed over her face instantly along with a smile, "Lucy", she said straight away.

"You know who this is?", Melody questioned despite it being clear, "Do you know her full name?".

"Lucille Murphy", the child responded, she was much more willing to speak about the photo than she was about her nightmare the previous night. She had managed to memorise names after reading them so many times from the wall inside her 'bed' within the basement.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "Where do you remember her from?", she asked gently.

"The cabin", was the simple response, "She came and stayed with us for a while".

"Do you remember what happened when she came to stay with you?", Melody asked her after a momentary pause.

 _Alessandra was sat on the swing in the backyard, pushing herself a little, or at least attempting to. She was looking at the ground and dragging her bare feet on the floor a little, the dirt from the ground marking her already dirty skin._

 _Hoyt was sat on the trunk of a tree which was lying beside the open fire, it was dark outside and the only light was that from the fire._

 _The little girl was in the shadows but Hoyt did not hold any worry about the little girl running away, he knew that she would not even attempt to, he knew that she would be too scared to._

 _The sound of of a truck pulling into the driveway was heard as it ran over a couple of empty beer cans, the sound of the truck's engine and the crush of the cans were the only sound that echoed throughout the property other than the slight crackle of the bonfire._

 _Alessandra looked up in the direction of the side of the house and towards the front, but she did not move at all from where she was sat, she knew not to._

 _A few minutes later, David came around the side of the house and approached Hoyt with a woman beside him. The woman had dark hair and appeared to be in her mid-forties._

 _She could not hear what the three adults were saying but she continued to quietly 'swing' herself a little on the handmade swing and dragging her toes along the dirt._

 _It was not long before the woman that had recently arrived was walking over to her._

"David brought her with him", she said as she looked down at the photo, "That's the clothes she was wearing when she came to stay with us", she was pointing to the photo as she spoke.

" **The photo was taken the day that she was abducted", Agent Summers stated, "She had spent the day at a theme park with her sister and two nieces but when they left the park, Lucille went to the restroom whilst her sister strapped the children into the car and gave them their snacks but Lucille never came back. She took the children with her to search for her after calling her multiple times but when she got to the restrooms she wasn't there so she notified security".**

" **Did CCTV catch anything?", Korsak asked as they had been cut out of the majority of case information, although Jane had her ways to get information for her own research into the case.**

" **Not a thing", one of the agents stated, "She wasn't in view of any of the cameras when she was taken because there weren't any in the carpark, only at the entrance and exit to the park"**

"Do you remember anything else from when she came?", Doctor Kingston prompted.

Alessandra bit her lip gently, "It was really dark and Santa had lit the fire", she said softly, "It made it harder to see and it was colder". "I was on the swing when she came", the little girl revealed, "I was trying to swing myself but I wasn't doing very well".

" _Hello", the dark-haired woman said to her politely as she knelt down in front of her, glancing back nervously at the two men that were both sat by the crackling fire, "My name is Lucille but I think it would be okay if you called me Lucy"._

 _The little girl smiled as she watched the woman in front of her, "Hello", she said in return, "My name's Alessandra but I think it would be okay if you called me Allie"._

 _Lucy smiled brightly as she noticed that the child had mimicked her a little in her choice of wording._

" _Would you like for me to push you on the swing?", she asked with a smile despite her nervousness and fear. The images of her nieces flashed in her mind as she observed the child in front of her._

 _Alessandra grinned happily and nodded, "Yes, please", she said with excitement._

" _Okay then", Lucy said with a gentle smile before standing up behind her and starting to push her on the swing whilst discreetly watching the two men. She was glancing around as well, attempting to see an escape route, any way at all that would mean that she could leave._

"What happened after that?", Melody prompted.

Alessandra smiled, "She pushed me on the swing", she revealed happily, "Then she told me about how much her nieces like to swing too".

Melody smiled and nodded, "Do you remember anything else from that night?".

The little one shook her head, "I don't think so", she admitted quietly.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "That's okay", she said with a reassuring smile, "Do you remember anything else from when she was staying with you?".

Alessandra tapped her lip for a moment as she thought, trying to remember something, "She drew a flower on the wall where she wrote her name", she said quietly.

"What type of flower did she draw?", Melody asked softly, it was not information that would really help the investigation but she knew that it could lead to the child revealing more information if she could recall the smaller aspects of her time in captivity.

"A rose", the child revealed, "I like roses because Mammina had roses in the garden, hers were red".

" _Mammina", the little girl said as she was sat beside her mother in the back garden._

" _Yes my little princess?", Michelle responded happily as she moved her focus from the roses that she was pruning to her daughter._

" _Did you have to paint them?", Alessandra asked her with a slight tilt of her head._

" _Paint what?", the woman asked her as she reached out and embraced her._

 _Alessandra leaned into her mother's embrace and smiled, "The roses of course", she replied as if it were the most obvious answer, "Like they do in Alice in Wonderland"._

 _Michelle smiled as they had watched that movie the previous night, "No, these ones were red when I planted them", she replied._

" _So you didn't plant the wrong ones first then?", Allie asked as she looked up at her mother._

 _She shook her head, "No, I didn't"._

" _That's a shame", Alessandra said with a slight sigh, "Painting roses sounds much more fun"._

 _Michelle simply laughed and pulled her daughter closer to her._

"We were allowed outside quite a bit to go on the swing and to look at the flowers too", the child revealed, "There weren't any roses though, just daisies and some flowers that we didn't know the name of so we made the names up instead".

 **Agent Morgan frowned, "There weren't any flowers on the property", he stated, "Or signs of any".**

" **But there were flowers in the field further back from the property", Agent Summers highlighted, before speaking into the earpiece that she had on,** " _ **Melody, get her talking about the flowers, there weren't any flowers on the property so we want to know how far her and Lucy were allowed to go and if they were unsupervised".**_

"Where were the flowers Alessandra?", Doctor Kingston asked as she had been requested to, "Was they at the cabin?".

Alessandra nodded, "Kind of", she replied slowly, elongating her words before returning to a normal speed to continue speaking, "They were in the fields right at the back, and you had to walk for a bit to get to them".

"Did you go just with Lucy or did someone else go with you?", the Psychologist asked her gently.

"At first we went with David or another of Santa's friends", she stated, "But then we went on our own for a couple of times too". "David put up a fence around it so that we wouldn't get eaten by bears", she said with a frown, "He said it zaps them".

" **No wonder they let them roam around in the field if they were trapped inside by an electric fence", Korsak said with a groan.**

"I'm not sure that there were any bears", Alessandra stated, "I never saw one and so I think he was just scared for no reason".

"What makes you think he was scared?", Melody prompted.

"Because he did it so quickly and he kept looking around as if someone was going to bonk him on the head", she revealed, "He was sweating a lot too that day and he kept jumping every time someone made a noise but then he would yell at whoever it was. Unless it was Santa, he would never yell at Santa".

"Why didn't he yell at Santa?", Melody asked, despite knowing the possible answer.

"Nobody yells at Santa", Alessandra simply stated with a shake of her head, "If you yell at Santa or tell him 'no' then you get sent home".

"Did you ever yell at Santa, or tell him no?", the blonde-haired woman asked her gently.

Alessandra nodded, "It didn't work though", she said with a heavy sigh, "He never sent me home, he just threw me back into the basement or made me drink water or if I was really bad then he put me in the trunk of the car or made me sleep out on the porch in the box".

" **There was a wooden crate on the back porch that had scratch marks on the inside", Agent Summers stated, "The crate was dirty and cracked with splinters sticking out from the wood". "Fibres that were found inside were matched to Alessandra's stuffed toy and Eliza Day's clothing, the hair strands inside were matched to both Alessandra and Eliza too but the blood and saliva traces matched only to Eliza". "We believe that Eliza may have died whilst in the box", the blonde FBI Agent continued, "based on the traces found inside of it".**

"I didn't like the box", Alessandra said quietly, "It smelled funny and it was really small and really dark".

"What happened after David built the fence?", Melody prompted.

Alessandra thought for a moment before responding to the question, "I don't know", she stated, "I think he went home that night because I didn't see him ever again".

" **It matches the rough time frame we have for when he was killed and buried on the property", one of the agents stated.**

"I was glad that he was gone because he wasn't a very nice man", Alessandra revealed.

"Did he ever hurt you?", Melody asked carefully.

Jane found herself holding her adoptive daughter closer to her when that particular question was asked and Maura was soon stroking Jo's fur.

Alessandra shook her head, "No, not really", she said quietly.

"What do you mean by 'not really'?", the English woman prompted.

"Well, he threw a pizza box at me once and it cut my head", she said as she touched her forehead, "Right here". "Then one time he pushed me into the box really quickly and I got a splinter in my leg, and another time he accidentally knocked me off of the steps", the little girl revealed, "But he didn't hit me… not like he did Laura".

" **Does she not realise that what she just said counts as hurting her?", Frost questioned instantly.**

" **Apparently not", Korsak stated.**

" **Which is why we have to be so careful with these interviews", Agent Summers commented, "There will be a lot of information that she reveals that she doesn't even realise is important". "She doesn't think that he hurt her on purpose", Jennifer said as she observed the child through the observation window, "But we know that the chance of any of those incidents being an accident is next to nothing".**

"Did he do anything else that hurt you?", Melody asked gently.

Alessandra shook her head, "No, I don't think so", she said softly.

"Do you remember anything else about Lucy?", the Psychologist prompted.

Allie looked down at the photo for a moment, she was tracing her finger over the image as she thought for a moment.

Melody gave her the quiet she needed to think and sat back for a moment without prompting the child.

"Before she went home, we went to the lake", the little girl revealed, "I was allowed to go into the water and swim with Lucy".

Jane bit her lip, remembering the clip that she had seen on the USB that had been found on Lucille's body.

 _When zoomed in, the little girl seemed quite happy with the woman but quite nervous at the same time according to her body language. Maura was able to analyse the body language of both the woman and child in the photos as she stood in front of a board in the bullpen. She stated that although the woman was smiling, she was showing signs of fear but that she was protecting the child. The way that her hands and arms were positioned when holding the child resembled that of a mother if her child were about to be taken from her._

 _One family handed over their video camera and in the background was Alessandra._

 _In the front of the camera was a little girl who seemed to be approximately two years old, paddling happily in the water._

 _Behind the little girl, further into the water was Lucille and Alessandra. The woman was holding the child on what appeared to be her hip as she stood in the water. The water came up to her breasts which meant that the child was also partially submerged in the water._

 _The lake's shape started out as shallow but grew rapidly deeper so there was only approximately three meters between the infant paddling and the kidnapped child._

She remembered hearing the sound of the little girl's laugh for the first time and she remembered the feeling of calm that washed over her at the idea that Alessandra was happy in that moment as well as safe, but then she recalled the feeling that came after that, the feeling when she heard the words 'Stockholm Syndrome' leave Maura's lips.

 _Jane stood in front of the screen as she watched the footage again, Frost had managed to zoom in on the video which meant that they now had a copy with just the woman and child in the shot rather than the infant paddling. The sound had also been altered to only show the sound of Alessandra and Lucille playing in the water although they couldn't cut out the splashing from other people on the beach, the voices of the pair had been enhanced._

 _ **"Again! Again", Alessandra squealed with excitement making Lucille laugh.**_

 _Jane wiped a tear from her eye, she was exhausted from the case, physically and emotionally. Her emotions were running at an all time high and the stress was getting to her. If anyone noticed the salty liquid escape from her eye then they said nothing._

 _ **Lucille span around in the water making the little one screech. It looked like a normal family day with a mother and child. Except… it wasn't.**_

 _"Do you think she knows?", Jane asked as she glanced to the side of her and towards her lover._

 _"Know what Jane?", she questioned._

 _Jane looked back at the screen, "That she was taken, that her parents are dead along with her siblings or that the man who has her is a murderer?"._

 _Maura sighed as she looked at the frozen image of the little girl's smile, "I don't know Jane"._

 _"Maybe she's been shielded from what he's been doing?", Jane said although it was a wishful thought._

 _"It is possible", Maura stated._

 _The Detective nodded, "She looks happy", she commented although that didn't mean she would stop looking for her._

 _Doctor Maura Isles nodded, "It could be Stockholm Syndrome", she suggested but then regretted it the moment she said it as Jane's face changed. Suddenly the woman looked as if she was going to cry._

 _"Hasn't she been through enough?", Jane commented with a sigh as she ran her hand through her hair with frustration before returning to her desk and settling her head in her hands whilst her elbows rested on the wooden desk._

 _The team said nothing. There was nothing they could say. Maura however silently moved to stand behind Jane, placing her hand gently on her lover's shoulder and showing her support for the woman._

 _After a moment, Jane lifted her head and looked at the doll that was sat on her desk. She reached out and carefully touched a curl, twirling it with her fingers._

"Were there any other children there?", Melody prompted.

Alessandra nodded, "Yes", she revealed, "But Santa said I wasn't allowed to play with them and that I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone".

"Why was that?", she asked the little one.

Allie shrugged, "I don't know", she admitted.

"What else did you do at the lake?", Melody continued.

Alessandra thought for a moment, "We went on the slide and swings too, and we had ice-cream but mostly we swam in the water and splashed", she said with a smile, "Lucy picked me up and spun me around in the water really quickly which made the water go all the way up and splash our faces".

Melody smiled brightly, "That sounds like it was fun", the woman said with a smile.

Allie nodded and then sighed as she looked down at the photo, a look of sadness and loss washing over her facial features.

"What's wrong?", Melody prompted.

"That was the day that Lucy went home", Alessandra said quietly with her eyes still cast downwards as she looked at the photograph in front of her.

Melody observed the child's facial expressions as well as her body language, "What happened?", she asked cautiously.

"We got into the car, we were still in our swimming clothes but we had towels wrapped around us so that we wouldn't be too cold and so that we'd dry off too", Alessandra said, the volume of her voice continuing to be rather low, "Santa made me drink some water and so I fell asleep with my head in Lucy's lap, she was brushing my hair with her fingers as we went along the road".

The child had gone silent, "What happened next?", she prompted the child.

"When I woke up Santa was climbing into the truck and we were on the road but I couldn't see much because it was dark", Alessandra said softly, "I asked where Lucy was and he said that she had gone home".

Those in the interview room listened carefully and so did those behind the observation window as she revealed what she knew about the night Lucy was murdered and her body was abandoned at the side of the highway. Before that moment, they had not known that the child had been in the car during the entire ordeal, luckily, however, she appeared not to be aware of the reality.

The little girl sniffled and buried herself a little closer to Jane, "She went home without me when she told me that she would take me with her", she revealed, "She promised".

As the little girl began to sob, Jane pulled her even closer and wrapped the blanket around her that she had brought in with them, the same one that she had wrapped around her in the car as the little one found it comforting. "I think we're done for today", Jane stated whilst leaving no room for argument nor for any negotiation.

" **I think that for once, I am actually glad that she was made to sleep", Frost said quietly, "It would have been horrific to see… to see that", they all knew the multitude of injuries that were found on the body of Lucille Murphy.**

 **They also knew that the location of the body drop had been proven to be the site of the murder too. Now that they knew that the child was there, it made sense as to how he was able to keep her quiet and stop her trying to run. It was now clear that he had used Alessandra as a prop in many of his murders and in the case of Lucille Murphy, the defensive wounds that were found were now giving a slightly different story. Lucille Murphy did not simply try to fight back against her killer and abuser but instead she fought desperately for not only her life but also to fight to protect the little girl sleeping in the back of the truck. Based upon the victim profile that they had built up with all of the interviews that they had carried out, they knew that the woman would not have been able to run without taking the child with her, no matter how brief her with her was.**

Melody nodded in agreement as she would have agreed even if she had not picked up on the way that Jane had said it.

Jane stood up with Alessandra clinging to her, her arms and legs both wrapped around the woman tightly whilst her head was resting on her shoulder.

Maura stood up soon after and kissed the side of Alessandra's head, "You did really well", she reassured her, "I think it calls for some Gnocchi tonight, what do you think?", she knew that Angela had cooked some and put it into the fridge ready for them to reheat it when they were ready.

 **A/N: Thank you for all the new follows and favourites for both the story and my profile.**

 **I have a question for you all. Is it TRULY an issue that I respond to reviews in my author's notes at the bottom of a chapter? The reason I put the responses at the bottom is because some ask questions or make suggestions of which I would like all those interested in the answers to be able to access them. I also always ensure that they are in bold and that it is clear that it is an author's note so that if a reader is not interested in reading them then they can skip them and go onto the next chapter.**

 **Laurenknight13 - I will admit that I did not originally plan for her to be alive and nor did I plan for her to return, however, it was, in fact, your review that inspired the idea when you commented on chapter 43 with** ' _ **I understand the FBI also need the help to find all those women's families to bring them peace, and also to find out if there is anyone else out there'**_ **as it made me want to put that one of the victims lived to give more of an element of hope. She won't appear again, however, which is why I wrote about witness protection instead. Thanks! I did eventually complete the paper so I only have three left to do for this semester (all due at the start of January!).**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review and for sticking with it for so long. I am glad that you are enjoying the story.**

 **Sally rally - Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Did you guess many of the names correctly? Yes, I agree, school is definitely important - it was just that the theory essay was like torture as it was so dull!**

 **Guest - Thank you for your kind review! I am very glad that you think so highly of the story, thank you so much! I definitely needed that big dose of positivity.**

 **Dmcdroid - Thank you for taking the time to review the story. I am very glad that you are enjoying the story so much and are able to follow it, I do apologise for the time gaps.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for your review. It definitely was not a planned event, for her to be alive and for their to be a reunion, so it was a plot twist for all of us, including me.**


	47. Friday, January 13th

The following day, Alessandra was much more cheerful as she had spent the evening watching movies with Jane and Maura whilst enjoying Gnocchi along with what Maura had determined may have been 'too much' ice-cream.

Alessandra was wearing a _Moschino Pearl Girls Dress_ which was a pearl satin dress with the iconic Moschino teddy logo printed all over it with a plain pearl sash that tied neatly around her waist, along with a white cardigan and white tights that both matched the colour of the bears' noses on the dress and a pair of pearl coloured shoes.

The little girl has sat on the floor in the interview room yet again with Jane whilst Maura was discussing the night terrors with Melody in the observation room where the child could not hear them.

Jane had a baby doll in her arms and was rocking it gently as if it were a real baby, "I think she's asleep Allie", she said softly to the little girl who was fiddling with some pretend food to 'make dinner'.

"No Jane", the little girl replied, "She's not allowed to go to sleep because she has to have her dinner".

"But she's already asleep", the woman replied with a slight smirk of amusement.

Alessandra rolled her eyes at the woman, "Then wake her up".

"How?", Jane questioned as she played along with her daughter.

"Poke her", the child said simply as if it were the most obvious answer in the world to that question.

 **Frost laughed, "Oh I love that kid", he commented, clearly amused at the child's antics.**

Jane's eyes went slightly wide, "You want me to poke your baby?", she asked.

"Fine", Allie responded with a shake of her head, "I'll do it", she said before poking the baby.

 **Frost laughed even more, "In the eye", he said as he shook his head at the child.**

" **Remind me never to let her babysit my son", Agent Summers commented.**

" **I doubt that she would do that to a real baby", Maura commented, defending her adoptive daughter's actions, "Although I do believe Jane and I will need to show her that there are better ways to wake someone up".**

" **Yeah, in case you get poked in the eye for falling asleep", Frost commented before laughing again.**

"Well…. That was definitely one way of waking it up", Jane commented with a shake of her head as she placed the plastic infant into the small highchair.

"See? It worked", Alessandra highlighted as she stirred a few random plastic food items in a pot in order to make 'dinner' which today consisted of a 'carrot', some 'peas', a 'potato', a piece of 'broccoli', and a 'slice of pizza'. It was definitely an unusual recipe and it had made Jane cringe at the idea of that mix together to which Allie had simply asked if she'd tried it before so when Jane said she hadn't then Allie pointed out that the woman couldn't judge it until she'd tried it - something that Alessandra's mother used to tell her and what Maura had recently been telling her too.

"Just don't try to wake anyone else up like that okay?", Jane highlighted gently as she cupped the little girl's cheek, "'cause if you wake _me_ up like that then I'm going to have to make you sleep on the sofa".

Alessandra looked at the woman and rolled her eyes, "No you wouldn't", she said with confidence, "You'd never make me sleep on the sofa".

"Oh really?", Jane questioned, still clearly playing with the little one.

The child nodded, "Yep", she replied, "You love me too much".

Jane laughed and pulled the child into her lap in order to embrace her, "That I do Tesoro, I love you sooo much".

Alessandra giggled at the extra-tight embrace and opted to hug the woman back, hiding her face against Jane's neck resulting in her hiding beneath her mass of dark curls, "I love you too", she said quietly in response.

The Detective found herself grinning happily at what Alessandra had said as she held her daughter close to her, those words were so precious to her, especially coming from the child that she had thought at times that she would never get the chance to meet but she had somehow managed to love before she had even met her.

"I'm bored of playing dolly", the little girl commented suddenly before standing up and tugging on Jane's hand for her to follow.

Jane did as the little girl was prompting her to do and got up from her position on the floor, "What would you like to do instead?", she asked with a smile.

Alessandra didn't speak but instead tugged her in the direction of the giant stuffed bear, lightly pushing at Jane's legs to encourage her to sit down.

"You want me to sit down here?", Jane asked before sitting down on the bear's legs.

The little one grinned and nodded, it was clear that she knew what she wanted but it was also clear that she was unsure as to how to ask for it. Alessandra quickly climbed back into Jane's lap and resumed her position.

"Ah you want to snuggle", Jane said as she held the little one close against her with one hand on her back and the other on the back of her head before pressing a soft kiss to her daughter's forehead.

Alessandra simply nodded, she seemed quite content to be securely wrapped in the Detective's arms.

 **After listening to Maura's concerns and listening to how she described the events of the night that she had the nightmare, Melody thought for a moment before she responded. She had, of course, recorded the conversation, after telling Maura her intention to do so, in order for her to play it back at a later date so that she could make notes for her records.**

" **I won't lie to you, Maura", Doctor Kingston stated, "It isn't going to be easy, she will most likely continue having nightmares although it is unlikely to be the same one if this is the first time she says that she's had this one but I'd like it if you could keep me informed if anything like it happens again".**

" **For now though, maybe if you kept a log of anything that you find to be concerning and then we can go over them together if you'd like", the woman said with a soft smile, "It will also help you to see how much she's improving over time as well". "When it comes to the nightmares I suggest that you carry on doing what you're doing now as it seems to be working", Melody continued, "If she does have a dream similar to what she had then I would suggest that you take her around the house and show her that he can't get in by showing her that the doors and windows are locked. You could also show her how the security alarm works so that she can see that it's secure, I know that Jane pointed out that she has her gun in the bedroom safe to show her that she would protect you both but maybe showing her that the house is secure too will make her less worried that he's going to come in during the night and harm you both".**

When the two women entered the interview room, Alessandra turned her head towards the door at the sound but did not get up from her position in Jane's lap as she was clearly rather comfortable where she was which made her extremely reluctant to move. Instead, she opted to great Maura with a huge grin and two upraised arms to invite her over to them to join their embrace.

Maura moved straight away to her girlfriend and daughter before embracing the little girl along with her girlfriend. The Doctor pressed a kiss to the top of Alessandra's head before pressing a soft kiss to Jane's lips.

"Are you ready to look at more of the photos Tesoro?", Jane asked her gently as she continued to embrace her.

Alessandra nodded in confirmation, "Can we stay here and do it?", she asked quietly as she looked up at Jane.

"Of course we can do it over there", Doctor Melody Kingston said softly as she moved closer with her file, smiling at the little girl to reassure her as she was happy to adjust to what the little one felt comfortable with. She knew that when interviewing children you had to be a little more flexible than what you would normally be when it came to adults.

Maura sat down beside Jane whilst the other woman grabbed a pillow from the side before sitting down on that nearby.

"How are you today Alessandra?", Melody asked with a bright, encouraging smile.

Alessandra thought for a moment, "I'm okay", she said politely with a smile, "Are we looking at more pictures today?".

Melody nodded, "Yes, we are", she said softly, "Is that okay?".

The little one nodded her dark curls bouncing with the movement as she agreed to the concept.

The blonde psychologist pulled a photo out of her brown file and placed it down in front of Alessandra, Jane, and Maura before asking, "Do you recognise this woman?".

 **The photo was of a redheaded woman in her late twenties with green eyes and wavy hair, the woman was wearing a green summer dress which had ruffles around the top and thin straps. She also had small gold earrings in along with a couple of gold bracelets on her left wrist. The woman was sat on a cream sofa in what could have possibly been her own living room.**

"Josslyn", Alessandra said after picking up the photo and looking at it for a moment, "Josslyn DiNozzo, I remember because it's kind of like 'dinosaur'. Josslyn agreed but she said that hers had a little more Italian pizzazz". The little one seemed amused at the memory and found herself smiling at the photo of the smiling woman after having put emphasis on the last word.

"Where did you meet her?", Melody asked softly as she observed the child's reactions to the image.

"She came and stayed at the cabin with me", Alessandra replied.

Melody nodded slightly, "Do you remember anything from the day that she came to stay with you?", she asked calmly as the little girl focused on the photo in front of her.

Alessandra was quiet for a moment, "No", she said with sadness in her voice, "I don't think so".

"What do you remember?", the English psychologist asked patiently.

"I remember her telling me that she has a brother", Allie revealed, "She said that his name is Nigel and he's seven years older than her".

" **It was the brother that reported her as missing", Agent Jackson commented, "They were supposed to go to lunch with him but she never showed up". "CCTV and witnesses revealed that she was taken off of the street only a few yards from the restaurant entrance", he continued, "Witnesses said that it happened so quickly and at enough distance from the other pedestrians that they didn't have a chance to stop it". "Although Hoyt wasn't seen at the scene, two of his known accomplices were", the FBI team knew that the two detectives in the room did not know all of the case details as it had only been Jane who had been given clearance on the case although she herself did often go against guidance and go solo in the aim to find the little one.**

"She liked to make daisy chains", the curly-haired child said after a moment of silence, "She made necklaces for me and a tiara so that I could be a Princess". "She helped me make some too so that I could make her a necklace and a tiara as well", Alessandra continued, "I liked it when we got to go outside because it was brighter out there and warmer". "Josslyn was silly though because she touched the fence and she got zapped because it thought she was a bear", the child revealed, "We're not supposed to touch the fence… not ever".

" **That explains the electric shock burns", Agent Shemar Morgan said with a sigh as that was one of the things that had been unexplained during the autopsy of 28-year-old Josslyn DiNozzo.**

"Did you touch the fence?", Melody asked her.

Alessandra shook her head, "Of course not", she said as if it were the most ridiculous question ever, "I saw David put it up and he got zapped so many times. I looked like it hurt a lot and I'm not silly so I didn't touch it", she said with a slight shrug, "I did tell Josslyn not to touch the fence but she didn't believe me, she said that she thought it was a lie to get me to stay inside it but it wasn't a lie so she got zapped".

"Do you remember anything else from the being out in the field with Josslyn?", Doctor Kingston asked calmly.

The little girl thought for a moment as she tried to remember something, anything, from their time outside, "When we were on the way to the field one time, Josslyn tried to run away from Santa's friend but he stopped her".

"Do you remember anything about Santa's friend?", Melody Kingston asked the child, making sure to word her question in the same way that the child had spoken in order to ensure that she would understand exactly what was being asked of her.

Alessandra nodded, "He looked weird", she said simply.

"What do you mean by 'weird' Alessandra?", Melody asked in order to clarify some form of a description so that there would be a possibility that the agents behind the screen could match him to one of the accomplices' descriptions.

"Well… he had long hair and it was shiny", she said with a cringe, "Like he'd put cooking oil on it and it was messy too". "He had a long scar down his face that went all the way from his forehead down to the bottom bit of his cheek on the right side and it wasn't straight… it was all wibbly wobbly going down", Alessandra revealed, "It wasn't cool like Harry Potter's one because it didn't look like lightning, it just looked messy".

" **By the sounds of it she's talking about Martyn Seahorn", the head agent; Derrick Jackson revealed, "He was a 21-year-old high-school drop-out known to have suffered manic episodes and severe depression". "He was identified as an accomplice of Hoyt's at the age of nineteen", he continued, "He had been arrested eleven times previous to that for minor offences such as theft and vandalism, Martyn served a total of two years in juvenile detention centres and lived in a total of eighteen different foster homes throughout the State after he was found in an alleyway at approximately a week old".**

"And he smelled weird", the little one revealed, "Kind of like a mix between out of date fish mixed together with garlic".

Maura cringed visibly at the picture that the little girl was painting, whilst Jane almost gagged at the idea of the smell alone.

"He liked the colour black", the child said softly, "He didn't like to wear any other colour and he always wore big heavy boots like he was about to go off to the army or something". "He didn't like Josslyn", she revealed with a sad tone of voice, "Especially after she tried to run away from him… he grabbed her and pulled her to stop her but he pulled her too hard so she fell on the floor". "I tried to help her but she said that I had to run instead but he had a gun out… you can't outrun a gun", Alessandra said quietly, "He hit her with it and made us go to the field instead".

" **Oh great", Frost commented, "Hoyt just casually puts some crazy-ass kid with a gun in charge of them", he was frustrated with the things that he was finding out but mostly because he hated the idea that the adorable little girl who was currently curled up to his partner had been through so much horror. At the same time, however, he was amazed at the little girl's courage, strength, and bravery.**

" **You can't outrun a gun", Jennifer Summers repeated, "I wonder who told her that? It sounded like she was repeating it".** " _ **Doctor Kingston? Could you ask her who told her 'you can't outrun a gun'? It sounds like it's been repeated".**_

"Alessandra?", Melody asked, having already picked up on it herself, "Who told you 'you can't outrun a gun'?"

"Santa did", Alessandra revealed, "He was cleaning it in the living room when he let me watch tv and that's when he told me, he said 'just remember… you can't outrun a gun', that was the day before Josslyn came to stay with us".

" **Does she realise that he threatened to shoot her?", Frost asked with widened eyes in shock.**

"Why do you think he said that?", the Psychologist asked her.

Alessandra shrugged, "I don't know", she said in response, "He was a little weird like that… he said strange things sometimes".

" **Guess not", Korsak commented with a heavy sigh.**

" **As it was said before Detective Frost, that is why these interviews have to be done", Jennifer said as she continued to observe the child in the interview room who was still leaning against Detective Rizzoli, "She doesn't realise the significance of some of the things that she knows and it's best that we find out as much information as possible so that we can have background on the case but also so that we can identify the victims and accomplices".**

" **It's because of her that we found out about Georgia Daniels and managed to find her alive, it's because of her that Georgia is now in a safe house and will be testifying in the case against some of the remaining accomplices", the blonde woman continued, "It's also because of her that we've been able to identify more of the victims that were buried on the property and because of her interview yesterday we've sent a team out to search the surrounding fields with ground scanners today".**

" **More bodies?", Korsak questioned.**

" **Possibly", Agent Moore commented, "We haven't had the reports yet".**

"Do you remember anything else from when Josslyn was staying with you?", Melody asked the child, she was careful not to mention that the woman was not 'staying' with her but instead being held prisoner in the cabin as the little one appeared to be unaware of that at the moment and she did not want to jeopardize the child's state of mind or the information that she could get from the interviews.

Alessandra nodded, "Josslyn was allergic to most of the food", she revealed, "She said that she isn't allowed to have gluten but there was no point telling Santa because he wouldn't listen, he only ever gave us scraps of take-out food like pizza or Chinese food or fries and things. She ate it because there wasn't anything else but it made her sick". "I'm not sure he'd know what a vegetable was if it kicked his behind", the little girl said with a shake of her head before looking up at Maura, "You wouldn't have liked it, Maura, it was far too unhealthy and there wasn't any kale or oatmeal".

Jane could not help but laugh at the kale and oatmeal comment but Maura simply looked amused as she smiled and shook her head.

" What else do you remember about Josslyn?", Melody prompted in order to get them back on track.

Alessandra bit her lip ever so slightly as she contemplated the question for a minute, "She had a tattoo of a daisy chain around her ankle", she said with a smile, "She really loved daisies". "She told me that she liked to bake cakes", the child revealed, "One day she wants to own her own bakery in New York but she couldn't decide what she wanted to call it though".

"Do you remember anything else from when Josslyn was with you?", the woman prompted again.

"She went home because she had to go and open her bakery", Alessandra said with a smile, "Josslyn said that she was sorry that she had to leave but that she was going to go and open her bakery in New York, just like she dreamed". "I wanted her to stay with me but she promised that one day I might be able to go and visit her bakery and if I did then she'd bake the biggest cupcake that I'd ever seen", the little one said with a huge smile, "I asked her if it can be blue with unicorns and she said it could be".

" **It sounds like Josslyn protected her from the truth", Jennifer said softly, "She knew she was going to die but still she made sure that Alessandra would feel okay". She looked up at the ceiling to try and stop the tears from falling, the case was tough on them all, and hearing how these women, despite facing danger and ultimately death, did what they could to protect this child that they didn't even know, it was hard to hear how the victims spent their last days and hours alive.**

"That was nice of her", Melody commented despite knowing the truth, she did not wish to break the child's heart by telling her the reality of what happened but deep down she knew that one day she would find out or realise what truly happened and that would be the day that everything changed.

Alessandra nodded, "She was nice like that, when she went home she left her jacket at the cabin for me so that I could use it at night to keep warm because she said that she had lots of jackets at home and wouldn't need that one anymore", she said revealing how much the woman shielded her and protected her, "She wrote her name on the wall inside a daisy flower and when she left she forgot her driver's license so I pushed it into the wall next to her name so that Santa wouldn't find it and so that if she came back then she could get it from me".

" **I'll text the team and let them know where it is", Agent Moore commented before picking up his phone to fire off a text so that there was an item in the wall that they needed to retrieve, which consequently meant that she could have buried other items in the walls which also meant that they would have more work because although they had scanned the ground for human remains, they had not scanned it for other items yet. It was a larger task than any of them had truly expected and the concentration had to be on the victims.**

"Do you remember anything else from the day that Josslyn went home?", Doctor Kingston enquired.

Alessandra nodded straight away without having to think much about it, "That was the day that Alexia came to stay with us".

" **That was one of the women whose body was found buried in the basement", Agent Jackson commented, "We didn't have any precise dates for her as she wasn't reported as missing". "She was identified by her dental records because her body was too badly decomposed for any other identification and although we identified her, we still haven't tracked down a next of kin", the head agent admitted, "It appears that she had no family and hadn't been in the country for long and now having a date to go by we know that she was kidnapped only three days after she became a naturalised citizen".**

" **Not exactly a great 'welcome to America' is it", Detective Frost commented with a shake of his head.**

"What do you remember about Alexia?", Melody asked her gently.

"I remember that she spoke Italian", Alessandra said with a bright smile, "Just like Mammina". "She said that she came from Italy but she became an American because she loved America", the little girl revealed with a smile, "She told me all about Italy and how beautiful it is there and about her family".

" _ **Ask her about Alexia's family", Agent Jackson requested through the communication system that Doctor Kingston had in her ear, "We haven't found any".**_

"What did she tell you about her family?", asked the woman as instructed.

"She told me that her grandparents live in a small house in a tiny little village surrounded by fields and that her aunt and uncle live really close to them along with her cousin", the little girl revealed.

" **Agent Morgan", Agent Jackson said as he glanced over at the man, "Get someone to track down the family, see if they're still alive and if Alexia told Alessandra the truth about them".**

"Do you remember anything else about them?", Melody prompted.

Alessandra shook her head, "Not much", she admitted, "Only that her cousin's name is Sophia and that she is only three-years-old".

" **On it", the Agent responded as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to make the phone call to their top tech analyst to see if she could track them down and he gave her the information that he had heard the child reveal.**

"Do you remember anything else about Alexia or about when she stayed with you?", Doctor Kingston asked her.

Alessandra sighed, "She wasn't with us for very long, she only stayed for a couple of days", she said with sadness within her voice, "I wanted her to stay for longer because I liked that she could speak Italian like Mammina". "I didn't want her to go home so soon", she admitted before asking, "Why do they always leave me behind?".

Melody thought about her response for a moment, even she struggled to decide what to say, "What do you remember from the short time that she was there for?", the woman opted to go with rather than pointing out that if they hadn't left her behind then she wouldn't be with Maura and Jane right now, or rather than highlighting the fact that the women didn't have a choice in the matter.

"I don't remember anything else", Alessandra admitted, "I'm sorry".

"It's okay if you don't remember", the woman said with a reassuring smile, "I have one more photo to show you today and then you can go home with Maura and Jane, is that okay?".

Alessandra nodded in confirmation, "Okay", she said softly.

The picture that Melody extracted from the folder and placed on the floor was a computer manipulation of the one remaining unidentified victim whose name was not found on the wall of the grave-like 'bed'. It had been created because the body was not identifiable and the attempts to track her dental records had failed.

"Do you recognise this woman?", the FBI Psychologist asked her.

The little girl picked up the photo in order to study it a little more but there were no signs of recognition showing on her own features at all, "No", she admitted, "I don't know who she is".

"That's okay", Melody reassured her with a smile, "Now, I have a surprise for you, would you like to see what it is?".

Alessandra nodded, although with a little hesitance as she watched the photos being put back in the file.

Melody smiled brightly at the child, "I'll be back in a moment with it, okay?".

"Okay", she responded quietly as she snuggled up against Jane a little more as the other woman left the room to get the surprise.

"You did really well Allie", Maura said softly as she ran her hand over the girl's dark curls, "I'm so proud of you".

Alessandra simply smiled in return as Jane hugged her a little tighter.

When Melody returned she had a white box in her hands and a big smile on her face and when she got a little closer she knelt down on the floor and handed the box over, "This is for you", she said happily, "I heard that you like them".

The little girl opened the box cautiously but when she realised what was in the box her face broke out into a massive grin and her eyes sparkled with a little excitement, "I love them!", she exclaimed as she kept her eyes on the cannoli in the box, "Thank you".

"You're welcome", Melody said happily, "How about you go with Jane and Maura now? Then you can eat your cannoli".

Alessandra nodded and stood up, tugging at Jane's hand before doing the same with Maura's, "Come on", she said with excitement, "I have a cannoli to eat and I'll even share some with you both", the bribe at the end had Jane up from the floor quite quickly.

 **A/N:**

 **Guest - Thank you for your kind comment and for taking the time to review.**

 **LaurenKnight13 - Thank you for taking the time to review. I agree, unfortunately a lot of people are unwilling to take on a child who has been through such trauma or they even expect the child to be 'fixed' instantly when that simply isn't the case although Alessandra is doing rather well in comparison to what she has been forced to go through in such a short time period.**

 **Sally Rally - Thank you for taking the time to review. Awesome! I'm glad that you got some of them, did you get the two from this chapter? (The name inspirations are at the bottom).**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you again for your lovely review.**

 **Jo82 - Thank you for reviewing the chapter. I hope that this chapter helps with your curiosity surrounding the nightmare that Alessandra had that night. I have never considered doing sequels for any of my stories, however, it is an intriguing concept that I will have to take into consideration once I have finished this and my other two incomplete stories. I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far.**

 **Bovary - Thanks for reviewing, I am so glad that you think that! Hopefully, I can continue to improve!**

 **Richie - Thank you for leaving such positivity, I am glad that you are enjoying the story so much and do hope that you continue to do so.**

 **Vbbneighbour - Thank you for taking the time to review. I have absolutely no idea why it's doing that to you, maybe it just wants to allow you to review more than once because it just loves you that much? I think the reason that she is struggling with what is good and what is bad is because she had to survive in that environment for over a year and so in order to survive you have to adopt coping mechanisms so she tries to find reason because she doesn't want to believe that people can be that evil. She wants to find the good in people and to see the positives. I believe that if she didn't do this and if she did admit to herself how cruel those people were then she would be in a much worse emotional state than what she is now because she would be even more terrified.**

 **MuffinRamsey - Thank you for reviewing the story and for such positivity.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for taking the time to review. If Hoyt had managed to get his own way and kidnap Jane then yes she most likely would have done the same thing that those women did because she would have done everything in her power to protect the child no matter what the consequences for herself. The cases can be a little intense but it is a 'Friday' post so there will be a break coming up for something a little more 'fluffy' to give Alessandra a break to spend time with her adoptive mothers.**

 **Guest - Thank you for taking the time to review the story, I am so glad that you have enjoyed the story so far.**

 **Lazytown2000 - Thank you for taking the time to review, I'm glad that you are enjoying it so far.**

 **Name Inspiration:**

 **Nigel -** Devil Wears Prada - Nigel Kipling

 **Martyn Seahorn** **-** Jason  Seahorn


	48. Saturday, January 14th

"Are you sure that you've got everything you need?", Jane Rizzoli asked her brother for what seemed like the billionth time already that morning as she whispered to him in the kitchen.

Frankie nodded, "I'm sure Jane", he replied, "Just like the last time you asked me, everything is ready". "We have all the paint we need and the decorations that Maura ordered online as well as the furniture for Allie's room", Frankie said yet again, "I know that you want it to be perfect for her Jane but don't worry, we've got this". "Frost and Tommy are both coming over in about half an hour and they'll be helping to decorate", he continued, "and Ma has already offered to feed us breakfast before we start and she's already planning on doing lunch too… also I hear she's bought us beer but she isn't letting us have that until after the room is finished".

"Good or there will be paint everywhere and the you'll all be asleep on the floor before anything is finished", Jane said with a roll of her eyes.

Frankie rolled his eyes in response to what his sister had said to him but before he could respond verbally he saw his niece run around the corner and directly to Jane, almost launching herself at the dark-haired woman.

Jane grinned, happiness reflected in her facial expressions, and she looked overjoyed to be able to scoop the child up in her arms in order to embrace her tightly, "Good Morning, Tesoro", she said softly before kissing her lovingly on the head.

"You already said Good Morning", Alessandra said with a giggle as she pulled her head back from where she had automatically rested it on the woman's shoulder.

"Well, I wanted to say it again", Jane said with a slight smirk, "Is that okay?".

Allie pretended to think for a moment, "I suppose so", she said after a moment before responding to what Jane had originally said, "Good Morning".

Frankie grinned as he watched the exchange between his sister and his niece, he loved how well the little girl seemed to fit in with their family, as if she had been the missing piece all along. "Good Morning Allie", Frankie said to the child with a smile.

Alessandra smiled back, "Good Morning", she responded straight away as she put her head back on Jane's shoulder.

"Are you excited to go to the zoo today?", the man asked her.

The curly-haired child nodded, "Very", she answered with a huge smile, "Although I think it would be more fun if Mommy let us climb in with the gorillas to play". "She said that Mamma and I aren't allowed to climb in with them", she revealed, "Even though they have a playground in their enclosure with slides and swings".

"So you can't take your Mamma back to live with the monkeys then?", Frankie asked.

Alessandra tilted her head, much in the same way that Maura tilted hers when she was confused, "I don't understand", she said quietly, "Why would I take Mamma to the live with the monkeys? I was talking about us climbing in to play with the gorillas… gorillas aren't monkeys, there are many substantial difference between the two".

Jane was trying not to laugh at her daughter's reaction to what her brother had said.

Frankie's jaw dropped, "She is so much like Maura", he commented, "That is kind of...".

"Kind of what?", Alessandra asked when he paused.

"Freaky", he replied but when he saw Alessandra's facial expression drop, he corrected himself, "But so cool, don't you think?".

She hesitated a little but nodded, "Yes", she said softly, "Cool", she did not seem too convinced with his reaction.

"So, no climbing in with the monkeys _or_ the gorillas then?", Frankie asked.

"Well, she never said that we couldn't climb in with any of the other animals", Alessandra revealed, "She only said about the gorillas, so that means the monkeys are fair game".

Jane and Frankie laughed, however, from behind them they heard Maura speak, "No Alessandra, you will not be climbing in with _any_ animals other than when we get to the petting zoo section of the zoo where you can go inside and feed the animals as well as play with them".

Alessandra sighed, "It's not like I was going to climb in with the lions, or tigers, or bears", she commented.

Jane grinned before joking, "I know, she's ruining the fun of the zoo", she said sending a wink to Maura to highlight the fact that she was, indeed, joking rather than being serious, "I've always wanted to climb in with the cheetahs".

"The cheetahs?", Alessandra questioned as she raised her head in order to take a better look at Jane, "Are you trying to be eaten Mamma?". The young girl sighed and shook her head, "I think Mommy may be right… I don't think you can be trusted to climb into the animal enclosures", she was shaking her head and had not realised that, yet again, she had referred to the two of them as 'Mamma' and 'Mommy', "Maybe the petting zoo is the better option after all".

Maura was watching the little girl and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around them both, she felt quite emotional at the increasing mentions of the words 'Mommy' and 'Mamma', especially knowing that the 'Mommy' term was being used for her, "Oh, I love you Allie", she said softly as she embraced the child along with Jane.

"See Mamma?", Alessandra said with a slight roll of her eyes, not understanding the sudden emotional response, "You've scared Mommy now that she thinks that we're going to climb in with the cheetahs, you have to fix it".

Jane smiled and kissed the top of Alessandra's head, she understood Maura's state because she was struggling to keep her own in check with the increasing mentions of her being 'Mommy', "I promise you that neither of us will climb in to any enclosures without your permission", she said with a slight smirk before kissing Maura lovingly.

"I think we should get going", Maura said as she stepped back, "We shall be having breakfast at the restaurant at the zoo". "Would you like to know which one Allie?", the woman asked with a smile.

Alessandra nodded eagerly, "Yes!", she exclaimed.

"I think I'm going to need one of your magic hugs first, what do you think?", Maura asked with a smile.

The little girl quite happily, although carefully, launched herself across to Maura's arms where Jane had no option but to hand her over unless she wanted to drop the child on the floor.

Maura took her into her arms quite happily and held her close to her as she embraced her.

"Are you going to tell me?", the little one asked, "Or just squeeze me to death?".

Frankie and Jane both laughed whilst Maura simply smiled, "Do you remember the restaurant that is beside the giraffe fields?".

"Really?", the little one asked, "We get to have breakfast with the giraffes?".

Maura nodded, "We will be, yes".

Alessandra appeared to be even more excited than she had been before, "Let's go then", she declared, "The giraffes are waiting for us".

Jane nodded with a smile, "Bye Frankie, say bye to Ma for us too", she said as she went to get their coats before they left.

Frankie smiled as he watched the car pull out of the driveway and as soon as they had left he sent texts to the others.

After approximately an hour of driving and ten minutes of walking, the three of them found themselves at the giraffe restaurant where Maura had booked for them to have breakfast on the balcony overlooking the fields where the giraffes were.

"They're beautiful", Alessandra gasped as she watched the giraffes eating their own breakfast in the field beside them.

Maura watched the little girl, she loved the fascination and amazement that the child was showing on her face as she loved to see how her daughter reacted to things, especially when those reaction contained a form of amazement. Despite everything that had happened in her short lifespan, she still appeared to look at the world with a sense of wonder.

"What would you like for breakfast, Allie?", Jane asked softly as she looked over at the children's menu that had been placed in front of the little one.

"The Panda Pancakes", she said indicating to the panda shaped pancakes with various fruits that came with it.

Maura smiled, "That sounds lovely", she commented, "What about you Jane?".

"Why aren't the adult pancakes shaped like pandas?", she said with a slight pout.

"I'm sure they'll let you order panda ones instead, Jane", Maura replied with slight smirk, "Although I think you may want two portions as they won't be as big as the ones you have at home".

Jane grinned whilst Alessandra giggled, "Then Panda Pancakes for me too", she declared making Maura chuckle slightly.

"I think I'll have the Eggs Benedict", Maura said with a smile before closing her menu, "What about drinks?".

"Grape juice, please?", Alessandra asked with a smile.

Maura nodded, "Of course", she said simply, "And you, Jane?".

"Orange juice", Jane replied as she closed her menu and placed it on top of Alessandra's before putting Maura's there too.

"I think that I will have the same", the honey-blonde woman replied with a smile as she reached and placed her hand on top of Jane's who was sat beside opposite her at the round table with Alessandra in between them in a way that meant that the child could watch the giraffes.

It was not long before the waitress had taken their order and they were back to watching the giraffes whilst Maura told them both as much information as possible about the animals.

Alessandra listened to every single word, she was fascinated by everything that Maura knew about them, she did not know that the woman had spent hours researching the zoo in order to ensure that its animal welfare was of an appropriate standard and that the health ratings were acceptable for them to eat at their restaurants, and nor did she know that the woman had researched the zoo's history along with the animal care that they had there, or that she had spent time to further research even more information about the animals.

All three of them enjoyed their breakfast when it was brought out to them and Alessandra had been highly amused when Jane opted to pick up one of her own Panda Pancakes in order to hold it up against her face and put on a silly voice in order to pretend to be a panda. The little one was screeching with giggles which prevented Maura from rolling her eyes at the other woman's antics.

After they had eaten their breakfast and spent some time watching the giraffes in their enclosure, the three of them then spent the entire day walking around the zoo whilst Maura enjoyed telling them all about the different animals and even corrected one of the staff members when he claimed an untrue fact about an african spurred tortoise.

When it came to lunch, they had theirs in a restaurant that was underneath the shark tank. In order to enter you had to walk through a tunnel with the sharks swimming above them and once they were inside the restaurant and seated, they could look up at the ceiling and see them swimming above them.

The sight of the sharks swimming over their heads was something that fascinated the little girl enough that she leaned back in her chair so much that Jane had to quickly catch her in order to prevent her falling off of the chair and onto the floor of the restaurant.

After that incident, Jane got Alessandra to lay in her lap whilst they waited for their food in order to watch the sharks because even though she was offered the option to get up and go to the tunnel in order to see them properly, she wanted to be able to watch them above her instead so it was the easiest option for them. Jane rather liked holding their daughter in her arms so for it was a bonus.

The day was amazing, all three enjoyed themselves, despite Jane's top being slightly eaten by a goat in the petting zoo.

"I have one more surprise for you", Maura announced as they left the zoo store. They had purchased a new dress for Alessandra along with a new t-shirt and hooded jumper for Jane, and a new top for Maura. In addition to these items, they had also gotten Alessandra a stuffed toy giraffe, a stuffed white tiger, a headband with tiger ears sticking up from the band, a new zoo themed game, a stationary set, and a new book.

Jane looked at her slightly confused as she was unaware of any further surprises.

Alessandra bounced with excitement, she seemed to love all of the surprises so far, "What is it?", she questioned as she literally bounced where she was standing.

"Tonight", Maura began, "Instead of going home, we will be staying at the lion lodge".

"Isn't that the place where we stay in those extravagant tent things with a view of the lions?", Jane asked her.

Maura simply nodded whilst Alessandra cheered for the idea.

"Sounds awesome, Maur', but we don't have clothes for the morning", Jane said, although the last bit was a lot quieter than the first.

"I had some clothes sent to the hotel for us tomorrow and you have your new t-shirt and hooded jumper that you can wear too", Maura said with a huge smile.

"This is the best surprise yet!", Alessandra exclaimed rather happily.

"We will go to the Lion Hotel first and then we shall go out to dinner", Maura told them with a smile, "I was thinking that you might want to go on the Sky Cabins". The Sky Cabins were pods that hung from a roping system that took you around the entire park through a selected route that allowed you to see the entirety of the park and if you were to pay extra then you could have one of their prestige pods which would allow you to extra time as well as to be able to have dinner and drinks.

"Dinner?", the little one questioned, "In the air? Where we can see _all_ of the animals?".

Maura nodded and could not help but smile at her daughter's excitement, "Would you like that?".

"Would I like that?", Alessandra asked with shock on her face, "More like _love_ it".

Jane and Maura both found themselves with huge smiles on their faces as they were both embraced at the same time by their daughter. Jane took that moment to take her spare hand and cup Maura's cheek before kissing her lovingly on the lips, "You are truly amazing, Maura Isles, and I can not wait to make you Maura Rizzoli-Isles one day".

"Rizzoli", she said softly, "I think it should be Maura Rizzoli".

Jane grinned, "I love the sound of that", she admitted quite happily, "I love you Maura Rizzoli".

"I love you too, Jane Rizzoli", Maura replied, "But you haven't made me a Rizzoli _quite_ yet", she said with a wink before she lead them both towards the hotel.

The dark-haired woman smiled, "Soon", she whispered to herself.

 **A/N:**

 **It took a little while to write this because my mind was repeatedly 'kidnapped' by MirAndy where I just had to write and for some reason I was finding it easier to write those one-shots than I was writing this chapter. There will be one more chapter before it goes back to the interviews and we can find out more about what happened during Alessandra's captivity. I'm (strangely) finding the scenes about the crimes easier to write than these soft breaks.**

 **Sweetkid45 - Thank you for your review**

 **Sallyrally - Thank you for taking the time to review. You really should watch the movie! It is BRILLIANT! I LOVE it!**

 **Aelaryn - I am glad that you have enjoyed the story so far, I hope that you continue to do so. Thank you for your review.**

 **Luckypenguinbuddy - Thank you for reviewing this chapter. Your observation is… correct. There is a reason for it and it will all be revealed soon. Well I say soon but that's a lie because it won't be fully revealed until chapter 59. Chapter 49 will also be a break because it won't go back to interviews until their Monday which is chapter 50.**

 **Jjswinnlive - Thank you for such positivity and for taking the time to review the story chapter. It is great to hear that you are enjoying it so far.**

 **Laurenknight13 - Agent Jackson saying that the body was found in the basement is following Alessandra saying that it was the day that Alexia came to stay. Allie's 'bed' was effectively a grave in the way that it was just a hole in the ground which is why it is repeatedly referred to as 'grave-like' et cetera and why the women seem to hate it so much. Not all of the bodies on the property were outside so, unfortunately, I am, indeed saying that she was sleeping in the basement along with bodies. She was, however, unaware of this fact and remains to be. I am very glad that you are enjoying the story so far and that you have taken the time to review this chapter. Following this one there will be approximately another 17 chapters left to write so there will be plenty more to read.**

 **Jen- Thank you for leaving a review, I can promise you that there will be aspects of Jane and Maura's relationship within the story, however, towards the end there will be an increasing amount (especially in the last five chapters that have been planned).**

 **Jo82 - Thank you for taking the time to review. Hoyt coming back to life is a concept that was never, ever considered. I can promise you that. That is a plot twist that I refuse to touch at all.**

 **Pink lady - Thank you for the reviews, I am so glad that you have enjoyed the story so much that you have read it again!**

 **Swtid77 - Thank you for reviewing the story! I think that the concept of skipping over such a monumental moment in Jane's life that would have had such an impact on her simply did an injustice to the character. They had such an opportunity to delve more into her character and I believe that it was a simple 'quick-fix' for the pregnancy storyline that they decided that they didn't want to do anymore.**

 **Tamtam86 - Thank you for taking the time to review! I did take a slight… break which was unplanned. I am glad that you are still with it and continuing to enjoy the story, I hope you'll stay for the following 17 chapters after this one too ; ) .**


	49. Sunday, January 15th

The following morning, the three of them awake in the hotel room together. During the night, Alessandra had climbed into the bed with them rather than remaining in the other bed on her own. She had woken up in a strange place and become unsure of her surroundings but knowing where Jane and Maura both were, she moved straight to them and climbed up onto their bed without any hesitation.

When Jane felt the movement of the bed covers, she opened her eyes reluctantly and reached out in order to tug her adoptive daughter onto the bed with them both. She then lifted the covers and let Allie snuggle up to her. This meant that when she woke up, she had Maura snuggled up against her side with their legs entwined and their daughter resting her head on top of Jane's chest where she was listening to the woman's heartbeat. It was a sound that always seemed to soothe the little one.

Both Jane and Alessandra were reluctant to get out of the bed, despite knowing that there would be a checking out time at the hotel, well, that was until Maura pointed out the fact that the hotel restaurant offered a huge array of pancakes with a big selection of toppings that they could use for them. Pancakes were always a sure way to get the two of them out of bed.

Maura found herself rolling her eyes at both of them due to their reluctance to get out of the bed but then she was smiling because it was another aspect that highlighted how well the little girl fit into their family unit due to the similarities between the Detective and the child.

Breakfast was 'amazing' according to Alessandra who managed to eat what Maura suspected was her entire weight in pancakes and toppings. There were so many options for them to eat that both Jane and Alessandra had attempted to try each and every one possible despite Maura highlighting the fact that they did not have to try them all right at that moment because they could come back another time and have even more pancakes. The two of them agreed to return but still did not stop or even slow down with their aim. To make their target a little easier to reach, they never ordered the same pancake with the same toppings because that way they could try each other's pancakes.

"I think I'm going to explode", Alessandra mumbled as she sat in her car seat in the back of the car.

"Why do you think that?", Maura asked with confusion evident on her face.

"Pancakes", the little one replied simply, "So many delicious pancakes".

"Whilst, I do believe that you may have eaten too many of them", Maura said softly, "It is not possible for you to explode".

"Too many?", Allie questioned, "There is no such thing as too many pancakes, is there Mamma?".

Jane smiled brightly, she rather enjoyed the new name, "No, Tesoro", she said happily, "There is no such thing".

"Exactly", she said with a grin, "So... now, I'm going to explode".

Maura rolled her eyes at Jane's reaction, "You still are not going to explode, Alessandra".

"I am", Alessandra said with determination, "You'll take that back when I explode... boom! I'll go just like that", the emphasis on the word or rather, the sound 'boom' was rather dramatic.

"Boom, huh?", Jane questioned with a slight smirk, "Sounds kind of messy".

"Hmm... in that case Mamma, you might want to pull over", Alessandra said with a heavy sigh, "Mommy won't be happy if I 'boom' all over the car".

"I don't imagine that she would be", Jane said with pure amusement as she chuckled at the little one's comment.

"Well, please do refrain from... going 'boom' anywhere", Maura said softly as she turned slightly to look at her daughter, "You aren't allowed to 'boom', okay?".

Alessandra watched as Maura reached out her hand and placed it gently on her leg, "Okay, Mommy", the little one replied with a small smile, "I promise that I won't boom".

After the little girl had promised her adoptive mother that she would not explode, it did not take them very long to get home but by the time that they did, Alessandra was fast asleep in the back of the car whilst wearing her tiger ear headband and cuddling her new stuffed toys. Her bag was beside her with the other items that she had been bought whilst they were at the zoo and she had briefly looked at her book before she had decided to look out of the window of the car instead. Watching the scenery that they were passing by gradually lulled her to sleep without her even realising that she was tired. The visual of the sleeping child made both of the women smile and Jane reached out and took Maura's hand gently.

When they arrived home, Jane carefully lifted Alessandra from the car seat and carried her inside after Maura had unlocked the front door for them. Cautiously, hoping not to wake her quite yet, Jane laid her down on the sofa with her head on a pillow before she gently covered her partially with a soft, fluffy blanket that resided on the back of the sofa and happened to be Alessandra's favourite which is why it had migrated from the linen closet to the living room.

Later that day, Alessandra was jumping around in the living room with Jane and roaring which was making them both giggle happily.

In the kitchen, Maura was helping Angela to prepare dinner, they had been discussing the zoo trip when the sound of the knocking door echoed throughout the home.

Alessandra's eyes went wide and she ducked behind Jane instantly.

"It's okay", Jane said softly as she knelt down on the floor, turning so that she could embrace the suddenly nervous child, "It's just the others, they've come for Sunday dinner, remember?".

She nodded from where she was positioned against Jane, her arms wrapped around the woman and it was clear that she felt much safer in her Mamma's arms.

Jane smiled softly and stood up whilst keeping the little girl securely in her embrace, lifting her up as she stood herself. She could hear the others as Maura greeted them and let them into the house, the door continued to be locked on a daily basis unlike it had been before where it used to be consistently unlocked despite Jane's protests about Maura's safety being at risk.

Alessandra leaned her head on the Detective's shoulder as she watched the door where she knew that the others were going to come through at any moment.

Angela was finishing off the dinner in the kitchen, Jane and Alessandra had already set the table together before they had started to play in the living room. The dark-haired woman loved to get involved with whatever game Alessandra invented at that moment as it was always something that was rather unique and often quite unusual too.

"Hello Allie", Frost said gently as he entered the room, noticing how she was leaning into Jane and appearing rather nervous which was normal for her when people first entered the room with them, especially if she could hear them but could not see them, "Did you have fun at the zoo?".

A quiet 'hello' came from the child but when he mentioned the zoo, her head popped up and suddenly she was a little more alert, "It was awesome", she declared enthusiastically.

"Would you like to come and sit with me so you can tell me all about it?", the man asked her with a friendly smile.

Alessandra looked up at Jane and then over at Frost before back again, she appeared to be waiting for Jane's permission.

Jane nodded before kneeling back down on the floor to let her down, "How about you take my phone so that you can show Frost the photos?", she suggested with a smile, offering the cell phone to the child.

"Okay", Alessandra replied softly as she took the phone in her hand.

The Detective pressed a kiss to her daughter's head before standing up, "I'll be back in a moment, okay?".

The child hesitated but after a moment she nodded, "Okay", she responded before she moved to sit on the sofa where Frost had also sat down.

"Er... Jane?", Frost called out as she had started to walk away, "I think you need to unlock your phone".

Jane just laughed, "Watch her".

"I can do it", Allie said to him with a smile before she looked back down at the phone and within seconds the phone was unlocked and she had it on the photo album section.

Frost simply chuckled, "Ah, I see", he commented to Jane.

Whilst Frost was being shown the many photos that had been taken at the zoo the previous day, upstairs Jane was talking to Frankie, "No, she hasn't seen it yet", the woman said quietly, "I wanted to wait until you were all here so that you could see her reaction as well".

Frankie nodded, "I picked this up too", he said moving into the bedroom and picking up a stuffed unicorn, "I know it wasn't on the list but it says that it helps kids sleep". "It's extra soft, you can heat it up in the microwave, and it smells of lavender", her brother explained, "I remembered Maura mentioning something about lavender and sleep before too so... I thought it might help Allie".

Jane smiled at him and took the unicorn from him, "Thanks, Frankie", she said as she looked down at the stuffed unicorn, "I think she'll love it".

"So, what's the plan?", he asked his sister as he looked around the newly decorated bedroom.

"After dinner, I was planning on bringing her up here and showing her the new bedroom", Jane revealed, "Maura has bought her a set of new pyjamas and a new dressing gown too as well as some new slippers".

"At this rate, Allie is going to be able to restock a kids' store just with her closet alone", Frankie said with amusement.

"Oh, I know", Jane agreed, "How many kids do you know that have walk-in closets?".

"Ah, but it isn't full", Frankie said as he laughed.

Jane rolled her eyes, "Do not say that to Maura", she said with a shake of her head, "You know for a fact that it will trigger a spending spree and she'll be dressing our child up like a little doll".

"Jane? She already dresses her up like a doll", the Italian man highlighted.

"True", she admitted, "But can you imagine what it would be like with that closet being completely full?".

"Well, she does make a cute doll", he admitted with laughter as they both left the child's new bedroom.

Dinner was uneventful, without the presence of 'boon' it was rather quiet and peaceful, especially as Jane did not have to worry about the younger child getting his dinner on Allie's designer dress like she had done previously. She still insisted that the little girl have a napkin over her lap and one tucked into the neckline of her clothing though.

Once dinner was over, Jane turned to Alessandra and tugged the napkins away from her in order to place them on the table before she lifted her up into her lap, "Guess what?", she said with a huge smile.

"I don't want to guess", Alessandra replied simply, "Guessing is usually terribly inaccurate".

The majority of those who were seated at the table burst into laughter at what the little girl had said to the woman, "Are you sure she isn't Maura's?", Frankie questioned, "That was just so...so Maura-like".

Alessandra looked quite confused, "But... I am hers", the little girl said quietly, "She's my Mommy".

Maura smiled brightly, "That's right, Allie", she said with a smile as she put her arms out to the child who moved into her arms straight away.

"Well, anyway", Jane said with a smile, "We have a surprise for you upstairs, would you like to come and see it?".

"Does it involve cannolis", Alessandra questioned with a slight tilt of her head as she watched the woman for a moment.

Jane shook her head, "No", she said softly, "But I can promise you that you'll really like it".

"Nonna promised me cannolis after dinner", she stated with a frown, "Can we have cannolis first?".

"So much like you Janie", Angela said with a proud smile, she was truly loving being called Nonna by the child and she hoped to hear it much more often, "Cannolis always come first".

"Yay!", Alessandra exclaimed with excitement, "Cannolis!".

Angela got up and went to get the cannolis for them all, the table had already been cleared of their dinner plates and so she could put the platter in the middle so that everyone could pick their own cannolis from the selection that she had made the day before.

It was not until the cannolis had been eaten that Alessandra agreed to go upstairs in order to see what the surprise was because to her there was an order of priority and any surprise did not come above the priority of a cannoli, especially one made by Angela.

Jane carried her up the stairs and then encouraged her to close her eyes, initially she refused to do it but she then hid her face against Jane instead of closing her eyes.

The woman walked into the room with the child in her arms before kneeling down on the floor whilst keeping hold of her daughter, "Okay", she said softly, "Now you can look".

Alessandra looked around the freshly decorated room, "Wow", she gasped, "It's amazing".

"And it's all for you", Maura said as she knelt down beside them.

The little girl was overjoyed at that and threw herself into a hug that involved both of her mothers. She loved her bedroom, everything was decorated in her favourite colours and there were Red Sox memorabilia everywhere, they had even managed to find a dark blue princess canopy that had the Red Sox logo at the top of it.

The Italian Detective was explaining to her who helped to decorate the room whilst Maura moved over to the closet and brought back her new nightwear, "You have new pyjamas for tonight as well", the honey-blonde said with a smile.

"Thank you", she said softly in reply before she hugged her Mommy.

"And a unicorn", Frankie said with a grin as he picked up the unicorn from the bed before moving cautiously to hand it to her.

"Unicorn!", the little one exclaimed before hugging the unicorn, "Thank you".

Most people went downstairs after a moment, it allowed the child to get changed into her new pyjamas and be wrapped in her warm dressing gown as well as to put on her new slippers.

"Do you know what you would like to call your new unicorn?", Jane asked the little one with a smile.

Alessandra looked down at the stuffed animal for a moment, "Clementine", she said simply, "Can we go and put Clementine in the microwave now?".

Maura tried not to laugh whilst Jane simply rolled her eyes, despite the fact that she herself was not keen on the name, it appeared that her daughter was.

 **A/N: Apologies for the gap in updating. There have been some... external issues and also I have been a little distracted by MirAndy ideas and reading.**

 **I am very glad that you are all enjoying the story so far!**

 **Next chapter will be 'Monday' so you all know what that means... back to the interviews! We are nearing the end of them though!**


	50. Monday, January 16th

The alarm blared the next day, waking up the three occupants of the large double bed and making Jane groan in hatred of the sound. Maura reached out her arm and pressed the button that would turn off the horrific sound that had broken the peaceful slumber and quiet home.

Alessandra had gone to bed in her new bed in her new room once everyone had left for the night and despite being nervous she had managed to fall asleep as Maura read her a story.

" _Are you excited to sleep in your new room?", Maura asked the little one._

 _Alessandra shrugged as she stood in the doorway, "Maybe", she said in a non-convincing manner._

" _Would you like me to read you a story?", the Chief Medical Examiner asked her with a soft smile._

" _Yes, please!", Allie replied with much more excitement than she had at the idea of sleeping in the new environment._

 _Maura smiled brightly, she loved the enthusiasm that the child had every time that she offered to read her a story, it did not matter what the honey-blonde woman was reading as Alessandra always loved to listen to the sound of her voice._

 _Jane had joked once that Alessandra would probably be happy with Maura reading the back of a cereal box. That, when turned into a bet, was something that Maura lost as Alessandra was apparently quite content to sit on the sofa with Maura reading the back of the cereal box to her. Despite betting that it would happen, Jane still could not help but burst into laughter at the sight of her lover reading the cereal box to their child, especially when they had so many perfectly acceptable books in the house._

 _Alessandra had already brushed her teeth and had some warm milk so she was all ready for bed in her new pyjamas and with her new unicorn wrapped in her arms. The stuffed animal had been heated up and smelled strongly of a soothing lavender scent._

 _Her mother pulled back the covers and encouraged the little one to climb beneath the covers before she placed them over her small body. The lamp beside the bed had been turned on and the larger overhead light had been switched off so that the light was not as bright in the room. The change in lighting made the room appear softer and calmer for the child in preparation for her to fall asleep._

 _It had not taken Jane long to tidy up downstairs and make her way to the child's bedroom in order to lie on the bed with the two of them and listen to the last of the fairytale story that Maura was reading to the little girl._

 _The little girl fell asleep calmly in her new bed in the new bedroom and seemed quite happy with her room, however, she awoke at three in the morning from a nightmare and panicked when she forgot where she was._

 _Jane jumped out of bed the moment that she heard her daughter cry out for them both, she had, admittedly not slept very much since climbing into bed with her girlfriend as she had grown accustomed to their child sleeping in with them. The lack of the child's presence had, however, given them some much needed time alone. Luckily they had both put their pyjamas back on after that time alone as they knew that there was a chance that Alessandra would either wake up in the night or climb in with them early in the morning._

 _Maura went with her as Jane had tapped her to ensure that she woke as it had been something that Maura wanted her to do. The Chief Medical Examiner wanted to them both to be involved in everything so that they would be of equal standing whilst parenting their new adoptive daughter. She did not mind if she was awoken in the night because it gave her the chance to be there for her daughter. It had upset her quite a bit when she discovered that Jane had awoken and gone to the child without her during that first night terror episode but Jane had promised to involved her the following time and she had stuck to her word on that._

 _The dark-haired woman quickly but carefully wrapped her daughter in her arms and held her close to her, pulling her into her lap as she soothed her._

 _By the time that Maura had finished warming up the milk for them, Jane had moved Alessandra into their bed instead of her new bedroom. Once they had finished their warm milk, all three of them curled up beneath the warm duvet and went back to sleep with the little girl safely encased between the two adults._

Maura turned to look at the other two that were sharing the bed with her and smiled, "Good Morning", she said cheerfully.

"No morning", Alessandra mumbled, "Morning later", as she said it she tugged the duvet up and over her head as well as Jane's.

The Chief Medical Examiner laughed, "Yes morning", she said with amusement in her voice, "We have to go to the station today, remember? We're going to see Doctor Kingston".

When Maura pulled the covers down to reveal the faces of both the other occupants of the bed, Alessandra groaned, "Tell her Mamma, tell her morning is later, not now", she said before adding an elongated, "Please", at the end of what she had requested.

Jane smiled, peeking out from beneath her eyelids in order to take a look at both Alessandra and Maura, "Morning is later Maur", she said before her lips stretched into a huge smile.

Maura rolled her eyes, "Well, I suppose that means that neither of you wants any pancakes then, doesn't it?", she said as she got out of the bed.

Before Maura's feet even managed to touch the carpeted floor, Alessandra was by her side with wide eyes, "Pancakes?", she questioned.

"Pancakes", her mother confirmed with a nod, "But if it isn't morning yet then you can't have them yet".

"That's okay Mommy", she said with a sweet smile, "It can be morning now, for the sake of the pancakes".

Maura laughed softly, "For the sake of the pancakes?", she asked her, clearly rather amused.

Alessandra nodded, "Yep", she said with a slight 'pop' to the last letter of the word.

"I second that", Jane said as she climbed out of bed, "If it has to be morning for pancakes then it can be morning". "Well, as long as they're yours or Ma's", the Detective added at the end, "They are so much nicer".

"Only because they don't stick them to the ceiling and let them fall on my head", the little girl mumbled as she stood in front of where Maura was sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Hey!", Jane exclaimed, "I heard that!".

"It doesn't matter if you heard me Mamma", Alessandra said softly before pointing out, "You was there so you already know that it's true".

The Italian woman rolled her eyes at her daughter but could not help but smile, "I love you, my crazy little Tesoro", she said as she moved to kneel down beside her daughter and lift her up into her arms.

"I love you too Mamma", she said as she yawned and then buried her face against her mother's neck.

Jane held her daughter securely with one arm in order to reach out her other arm to Maura so that she could pull her close to her, wrapping her in the embrace with their daughter, "I love you Maur'", she said as she pressed a kiss to the other woman's cheek.

"I love you too Mommy", Alessandra said with a grin as she pressed a kiss to the woman's other cheek.

"I love you both", Maura replied with a huge and very happy smile before she pressed a soft kiss to Alessandra's cheek and a brief kiss to Jane's lips.

Once they were downstairs, Jane and Alessandra curled up on the sofa watching cartoons whilst Maura made them breakfast. Usually Maura would allow their daughter to help in the kitchen with her, however, she knew that they needed to be at the precinct which meant that they could not spend too much time getting ready.

Alessandra in the kitchen always meant one thing and that one thing was a big mess, especially when adding Jane into the mix as well. The two of them could spread flour everywhere without even trying to and the last time they had made pancakes together without Maura, it had ended with flour on every surface in the kitchen along with other ingredients and then a pancake stuck to the ceiling which, as Maura stepped into the kitchen, fell on the head of their young daughter.

It was another hour and a half before the family of three arrived at the precinct, Jane picked her daughter up out of her car seat as soon as they stopped in their parking space as she knew that the little one would most likely get too freaked out and nervous if she were to be walking through such a busy area with so many people, especially as so many were still rather enthusiastic about her being there. The officers and other staff members knew, however, that approaching the child without permission from either of the women was not in their best interests and so keeping a distance was the best idea.

Alessandra was wearing a _Monnalisa Girls' Disney Themed Skirt_ which had a colourful Snow White print on the material with an elasticated grey waistband, and a cream long sleeved top which had a small grey curved collar around the neckline. In order for her to stay warm she had cream tights on along with a grey cardigan, and on her feet were a pair of red ballet pumps which had cream bows on the tops of them where her toes were.

"Are you ready, Tesoro?", Jane asked her softly as she held her close to her and stepped into the elevator.

The young girl nodded but didn't say anything as she leaned her head on her adoptive mother's shoulder comfortably.

"Not long now and soon you won't have to come in anymore to answer the Doc's questions", the Detective said with a calm smile as they arrived at the floor that they needed to be on and stepped out into the mess of people.

"Good Morning", Doctor Melody Kingston greeted them cheerfully as they approached the interview room and barely awaiting a response before focusing solely on the little one, "How are you today, Allie?".

Alessandra shrugged, "I'm okay", she replied quietly.

"Would you like to play for a little while?", Melody asked the child.

The dark-haired little girl nodded, "Yes, please".

"Okay, how about you go in and play for a little bit and I'll be in soon?", Doctor Kingston suggested, "I'm going to ask you to take a look at more photographs, is that okay?".

Alessandra nodded, "That's okay, I suppose", she said softly before wriggling to get down from Jane's arms.

Jane carefully put her daughter on the ground so that she could run off into the playroom. The child was becoming more confident in herself and in her surroundings, but instead of simply dashing off to find the toys that she had opted to play with that morning, she took hold of Jane's hand and took hold of Maura's then pulled them into the room with them.

Alessandra loved to spend time with her adoptive mothers and to play various games with them, "Can we do some drawing, Mommy?", she asked as she looked up at Maura.

Maura nodded, "Of course we can", she replied softly, picking up on the fact that the child had said 'we' and not 'I' when she asked the question.

The dark-haired child ran straight to the table but did not sit down, clearly waiting for the two adults.

"Will you sit on the chair today?", Jane asked her patiently, indicating to the small, child-sized plastic chair that was sat beside the low table.

"No, thank you", Alessandra replied politely, "I think I'd rather sit in Mommy's lap today".

Maura smiled happily as she loved to be able to hold the little girl and spend time with her, at the start she had gone to Jane more than her so the increasing amount of trust in both of them was something that she was very glad about. The honey-blonde woman knelt down on the floor and put her arms out to her daughter, "Come here then, Allie", she invited her gently over onto her lap.

Jane simply smiled and knelt down beside the two of them before she reached out and tugged the plastic box of crayons closer to them along with some paper.

Alessandra pushed a piece of paper so that it was in front of Jane and another piece so that it was in front of Maura before getting a piece for herself after each adult had thanked her. She reached out and grabbed one of the crayons so that she could begin her drawing and both women copied her actions as they knew that she wanted them to take part in the activity with her. They rather enjoyed getting to take part in more 'childish' activities such as that with the child. Jane had already decided that it was a great opportunity to get Maura to do the things that she had not been able to whilst growing up with her own adoptive parents.

After they had been talking about random things and drawing for approximately ten minutes, Doctor Melody Kingston entered the room with a short knock to the door and smiled brightly as she entered the room. "Hello, Alessandra", she said happily as she closed the door and then made her way over to the table with the familiar brown folder in her hands, "Have you enjoyed your drawing?".

The little girl nodded with a big smile to confirm that she had enjoyed it, she loved to draw different pictures.

"What did you decide to draw today?", Melody asked her as she knelt down on the floor, "Can you tell me about your drawing?".

"It's a drawing of the zoo", Alessandra revealed as she nudged her drawing towards the Doctor so that she could see it better. She then pointed to each aspect of the drawing as she spoke, indicating to her adoptive parents as well as herself and then to a multitude of different animals that included; a lion, a penguin, a tiger, a bear, giraffe, and a gorilla.

"That is a beautiful picture", Doctor Kingston said happily as she looked at the colourful photo, "Did you enjoy the zoo?". The woman had been informed of the trip to the zoo before it had happened and she had also been informed of the plan to stay there for the night as well. Maura had wanted to make sure that everything was in place to ensure that everything would go smoothly and that her adoptive daughter would enjoy the trip. Melody had reassured her by going over the various calming techniques that Maura had already researched.

Alessandra nodded with a huge grin, "I loved it", she declared instantly, "I had the best time ever". The little one was quite enthusiastic as she told the woman about her trip to the zoo with her Mamma and Mommy over the weekend, whilst the Doctor listened attentively with a smile.

"That's great", Melody said cheerfully, she was glad that the child had enjoyed herself so much and she was rather impressed at the progress that she had made so far with the assistance and care of the two women taking care of her. "Now, I have some more photos in this folder, is it okay if we take a look at them? Then you can tell me whatever you can remember about them", Doctor Kingston said calmly, "I might have some questions too, just like before".

The young child nodded, "Okay", she said softly as she eyed the light brown file that was resting on the surface of the table.

Melody, as always, kept a close eye on Alessandra's facial expressions and body language when she opened the file and presented the photo to the little girl, she was consistently cautious of how the young victim might react to the stimuli that she was being shown. The photos were not graphic, however, there was always a risk of a negative reaction due to the fact that they had no information to go on when it came to how much the little girl knew and so without showing her the photos they could not find out the information, to begin with.

The photo was of a woman in her late forties with dark hair that did not quite reach her shoulders and she was wearing a lemon yellow summer dress in the photo that had strings tying it up around her neck. The photo had been taken at a house in rural Australia and in the reflection of the sunshades that were hooked in the top of her dress was a second woman who was apparently taking the photograph with a small digital camera.

Alessandra looked at the photo for a moment after having tugged it closer so that she could take a better look at the printed image, "That's Elaina", the little girl said softly, "She stayed with us for lots of weeks".

 _Elaina was sat at the side of the basement as she leaned up against the wall, the dirt from the floor had rubbed off quite a bit on to her skin but she did not take any notice. It had been four weeks since she had been taken by force by a man that she had never met before and driven to a cabin. She did not know whether anyone was searching for her or if anyone had even been alerted that she was missing. Elaina did, however, know that her mother would notice when she had missed their weekly Skype calls but the woman was in Australia so there was not as much that she could do from so many miles away. The 48-year-old woman sighed heavily and ran her hand through her hair._

 _The little girl stood up in the 'bed' that had been dug out of the dirt ground, "Why do you stare at the wall?", she questioned, "Are you trying to make it move with your mind?"._

 _The woman laughed a little and shook her head, "No, but it would be good, don't you think so?"._

"After a while, she started staring at the wall", Alessandra revealed, "She did that a lot".

Melody listened carefully, "Do you know why she did that?", she asked despite knowing various psychological reasons why a person might do that repeatedly.

 _Alessandra shrugged, "Not really", she stated before pointing out, "If you move the wall then wouldn't the cabin fall on top of us?"._

 _Elaina paused for a moment before looking at the child, "You're right, I think it would", she said simply before returning her focus to the dirty wall opposite her._

" _Why do you stare at the wall?", Allie repeated after not getting an answer to her initial question._

" _I don't know… I suppose I'm just thinking and there isn't much else to do down here", Elaina said softly._

 _Alessandra nodded and was quiet for a very short moment before asking, "What are you thinking about?"._

"She said that it was because she was thinking about her home and because there wasn't anything to do in the basement", the little one revealed, "It was still a little strange though, especially because there wasn't a tv or anything on the wall".

 _Elaina smiled as she looked over at the little girl, the child who held so much innocence despite the circumstances that she was forced into and despite her living conditions, "Home", she replied gently._

" _I think about home too", Allie admitted, "I dream about it all the time when the nightmares aren't there of course". "Do you have a Mammina and Papa at home too?", she questioned._

" _My mother lives in Australia", Elaina revealed, "I usually call her every week and I'm due to go and see her at Christmas, I'm going to surprise her because I haven't seen her in a while"._

" _What about your Papa?", Alessandra asked with a slightly tilted head, her eyes filled with curiosity._

" _My Papa died when I was twelve", the woman revealed._

 _Alessandra's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped slightly in shock, "What… what happened?", she asked._

 _Elaina looked at the little girl, "He was a very silly man", she said softly, "He decided to go driving after he'd been drinking too much at the local bar"._

 _The child did not fully understand it but she nodded anyway._

"Her Mammina lives in Australia and she was going to see her at Christmas to surprise her because she hadn't seen her in ages", Alessandra said softly, "That's why Elaina had a funny accent". "She doesn't have a Pappa anymore though because he died lots of years ago", she revealed.

"Do you remember what happened the day that she came to the cabin?", Melody prompted after a moment of silence.

Alessandra shook her head, "Only that when she came to the basement she said that she'd been upstairs in the top of the house for a day before she came down", she said softly, "Oh, and she had ripped clothes".

"What do you remember about what she was wearing?", Melody attempted to prompt her again.

 _The short-haired woman stepped into the basement after stumbling down a couple of the stairs with the force that she was pushed through the door. Her dress was a Salmon pink and it was torn. Firstly the waistline was torn which left a hole down the left side and secondly was the strap which had been torn off on the right side completely. Blood stained part of the top section of the dress but it had dried so it simply looked like a strange pattern on the material to the child._

"It was a weird pink colour dress", Allie said softly as she looked down at the photograph that was still laying on the table, "She said the colour was called 'Salmon', I thought that was silly because it's the name of a fish… a very tasty fish".

Melody chuckled a little with amusement, "It is tasty, isn't it?".

Alessandra nodded, "Mammina used to cook it a lot because it was one of her favourite foods".

"That sounds great, Alessandra", the woman said with a smile, "Do you remember anything else about the day that Elaina arrived?".

The little girl looked at the photo for a moment before looking back up at the FBI Psychologist and shaking her head, "No", she replied simply.

"Anything at all from her time at the cabin?", Melody asked her patiently.

Alessandra shook her head again, "No".

Melody nodded knowing that it was a possibility that the lack of memories was simply due to a lack of anything substantial or memorable happening at that time, "Would you like to move on to another photo?".

The little one nodded but did not verbally reply to the question that the woman had posed to her.

Doctor Kingston moved the photo away and put another one in front of the young girl. The photo was of a woman with very short dark hair and, like Elaina, was in her late forties. She was wearing a pair of jeans with a navy blue jacket on whilst standing surrounded by trees on what appeared to be some sort of hiking trail.

"That's Jennifer", Alessandra said straight away, "Her last name is Bishop, like the piece that you get on a chessboard". "She told me she can't play chess though because she doesn't know how", the little one revealed, "I do though because Papa taught me a few days before… before I had to go with Santa".

When the child went silent, Melody tried to prompt her in order to pull her away from that aspect for a moment, "What else do you remember about Jennifer?".

"She didn't like the new clothes that Santa brought her to wear", Alessandra revealed, "He was very mean to her when he heard her say that".

" _You ungrateful bitch!", the man snarled at her as he stepped closer and grabbed her by the neckline of the burgundy dress, pulling her away from the cabin, "I get you fresh clothes and instead of thanking me you whine and moan about flowers?!"._

" _I'm so… sorry", the woman sniffled as she struggled to remain standing during the struggle, "Please not in front of…"._

" _I'll do whatever I want whenever I want", he stated, "Go to bed Alessandra"._

"What happened?", Melody asked her gently and with caution.

"He got really angry at her and he dragged her out of the cabin", Alessandra said softly, "I don't know what happened after that because I was sent to bed but Santa said that he sent her home".

The adults in the room and those behind the interview room screen knew that 'home' was definitely not the 'home' that anyone would willingly go to.

"Why did she get to go home but I didn't?", the little one questioned with sadness in her voice, "I tried doing that… I tried telling him that I didn't like my clothes and yet he still didn't send me home".

Maura held her a little closer than she had been and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "You're home now, my beautiful, beautiful little girl", she said softly.

Alessandra smiled despite the tear-filled eyes and turned, forcing Maura to let go for a moment so that the little girl could throw her arms around the Chief Medical Examiner's neck and hug her tightly in return.

"I think we can make today a short one", Jane stated as she looked over at Melody before wrapping her family in her arms.

Melody nodded, knowing that there was not an option in what the Detective had said to her and also knowing that the child needed a break, "We can start again tomorrow", she said simply with a soft smile.

"Can we have salmon for dinner?", Alessandra asked as she tugged back slightly to look at Maura, "With poached egg and avocado on toast like Mammina makes?".

"Whatever you want, Tesoro", Jane said with a smile before pressing a loving kiss to her daughter's head, "But lunch is first so how about we have that for lunch?".

Alessandra nodded, "Yes please", she said with a smile, apparently she was quite keen on the dish.

Adults could be quite unpredictable in interviews but Melody knew that children were even more unpredictable and so she knew that anything was possible, even, apparently, a sudden want for certain foods.

 **A/N: Thank you so much for all of the lovely reviews and for your patience. That is now 50 chapters complete! There are another 15 to go and then it will be… over.**


	51. Tuesday, January 17th - Part I

When Maura awoke the following morning she found herself pinned by her adopted daughter who had opted to use her as a pillow following her nightmare. Alessandra had awoken in the middle of the night sobbing and it took almost an hour to calm her down with the help of some warm milk and plenty of cuddles. Maura ran her hand through the little girl's dark curls and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her head, "I love you", she whispered to the sleeping child in the silence of the bedroom.

The meal the previous night had gone well and Alessandra seemed happy to be telling her two mothers about what her biological mother would do in the kitchen which apparently included a lot of dancing and singing as well as tickles. Jane and Maura attempted to make it fun and it worked as the child enjoyed her dinner time as well as helping to cook the meal. It did not, however, stop her from crying that night for her biological mother due to a nightmare that she could not remember when she woke.

Jane tightened her arm around both her lover and their daughter briefly as she started to wake up. She would have loved a lay-in but she knew that it would not be long before Maura insisted that they get out of bed to get ready for their day.

The Italian woman could not wait for the interviews to be over and for them to be able to put some sort of normal routine in place so that the child could have some sort of consistency in a healthy family environment without being pestered with questions consistently by the FBI employee. Although, Jane did have to admit that the English woman was rather patient with the child and seemed to be very understanding and kind towards her as well. Melody never pushed her like the original agent had and nor did she disrespect any of Alessandra's wishes to leave by forcing her to stay.

"Good Morning", Jane mumbled with a voice that was laced with tiredness as she was still a little groggy from just waking up.

Maura smiled softly and leaned over to the other woman to press a gentle kiss to her lips, "Good Morning", she replied happily, a lot more awake than what her lover was in that moment as she was much more fond of early mornings than Jane was.

"Ma is making pancakes this morning at the cafe", Jane said softly.

Alessandra's head shot up and her eyes were wide with excitement, "Nona pancakes?", she questioned.

Jane and Maura both laughed before the former managed to reply, "Yes, she is and I thought that it would be good to take some breakfast up to Korsak and Frost so that we can have breakfast in the bullpen today".

The little girl sat up from her position where she had been lying partially over her adoptive mother, she then covered her mouth with her small hand as she yawned, "More sleep first?", she asked her parents before lying back down in the same position that she had just moved out of.

Maura sighed softly, "I'm sorry, Allie", she said gently as she ran her hand through the mass of dark curls covering her daughter's head, "We have to get up in a moment so that we can get dressed and go for breakfast before we go and see Doctor Kingston again".

Alessandra sighed in return, "In a moment you said, so not now", she answered as she snuggled up to Maura a little more.

Jane smiled and kissed Maura gently before pulling the other two close to her in a loving embrace which was also a way of keeping them safe.

After spending a few more minutes lying in bed, the family of three started to get ready to leave and it did not take long before they were going out of the door.

Alessandra was dressed in a _Burberry Classic Rhonda Dress_ which had a white, short-sleeved top section which had turn up cuffs to it and epaulets on the shoulders. Then it had a classic checkered Burberry print on the skirt section of the dress with a sash around the waist. The whole dress was made of 100% cotton which included a soft cotton lining. Over the top of the dress, she was wearing a _Burberry Sandringham Trench Coat_ which was honey-coloured and matched the dress that she was wearing. The coat was double-breasted with two pockets on the front and it also had epaulets on the shoulders, buttons on the cuffs, and a buckled belt around the waist. Around her neck, in order to keep her warm, was a matching _Burberry Exploded Check Cashmere Scarf_ that had fringing at both ends of the strip of material. The little girl was also wearing a pair of white tights that broke up the check of the skirt and the check of her _Burberry Ally Hc Shoes_ that were also decorated in their classic check design. The shoes were flat with rubber soles and had decorative black bows on the fronts of them. Her hair had been left in loose, natural curls but a bow had been tied around her head to hold her hair back from her face.

Maura did not dare to mention how much the outfit that their daughter was wearing, especially as the shoes along cost almost 200$.

The idea of Maura spending so much money on singular clothing items for the child was something that baffled the Detective as during her childhood she did not have such luxuries. Maura seemed to spend more money on clothing for their daughter than what Jane was willing to spend on herself. That meant that Jane did not even want to ask how much each clothing item was worth, especially not after the dress incident because otherwise, she would probably feel the need to wrap the little girl in cling film so that she never got dirty ever again. She did, however, have to admit that her daughter always looked great in whatever Maura opted to put her in and Alessandra seemed happy in it. Maura was also happy with her choices but it seemed to give the woman a chance to dress their daughter like a life-sized doll.

The Chief Medical Examiner was wearing a red designer dress which matched the red lines in Alessandra's outfit and she was wearing high heels as per usual.

Jane, who was wearing clothing that was a little bit more casual than her lover, was wearing a _Red Sox_ top that Maura had recently purchased for her with a pair of black jeans and a pair of boots.

As they reached the cafeteria, Jane put Alessandra down on the floor where she was able to run directly to Angela in the mostly empty cafe. Angela grinned happily as she bent down to welcome her adoptive granddaughter into her arms. The woman was extremely glad that the little girl had become so comfortable with her over the time that she had been with the two women as she remembered the timid and terrified little girl that she had been in the hospital room not too long ago.

Angela laughed, "What has you so excited?", the woman questioned happily as she scooped the child up onto her hip.

The child froze momentarily as she always did when she was picked up by someone that was not either of her adoptive mothers but after a moment she relaxed a little before exclaiming with excitement, "Pancakes!".

"Well, if you go and sit down then I'll start making the pancakes", the woman said with a smile as she loved to see Alessandra so excited over her food. The Italian woman loved it when people enjoyed her cooking as it was something that she loved to do. Her daughter, however, was the opposite and hated to cook so she often pretended that she could not cook at all despite the fact that she could. Jane had a habit of never sticking to the recipe though and would always take things out or add things in, no matter what Angela told her when she was growing up.

"Hey Ma", Jane said as she got closer to her mother and they greeted each other.

Once all three adults had greeted each other good morning, Maura and Jane moved to stand to the side so that they could continue to talk to the woman as she cooked their breakfast. Angela had passed Alessandra over to her adoptive mother and Maura was more than happy to accept the child into her arms.

It didn't take long for the older Italian woman to make enough bunny shaped pancakes for all of them and to package them up along with a selection of toppings for them. The woman also made sure to get their coffees, although it was a hot chocolate for Alessandra as there was no way that she was going to make coffee for her granddaughter despite the fact that she had a habit of sneaking sips of Jane's drink.

Once the food and drinks were ready, Jane hooked a bag on each arm and picked up the cardboard containers that held the drinks with one of those in each hand. She opted to carry the items herself as she knew that it was easier as Maura would be carrying their daughter up to the bullpen. Alessandra was still rather nervous around too many people and that had been shown during their trip to the zoo so she did not want the child to become agitated or scared on the way. Especially as she knew that it would be stressful enough to be interviewed yet again by the FBI psychologist about the ordeal that she had been through and about the information that she knew on the victims that Hoyt and his accomplices had murdered during that time at the cabin.

"I'll see you tonight for the movie night", Angela said as the three of them left the cafeteria.

"Bye Ma", Jane called out as they left despite having already said their goodbyes to the woman before they started to leave.

As they walked through the precinct many of the people in the hallways turned to look at the little girl and her adoptive mothers, the happiness and joy that the child had been rescued had not died down and the officers loved to see the little girl that they had spent so long on the lookout for and even doing overtime trying to find. They did not have the ability to interact very much with the child as she was rather skittish and her parents, especially Jane, were extremely protective of Alessandra. The protectiveness was understandable though and so the officers kept their distance, just happy to see that the child was happy, loved, and cared for.

When they arrived in the bullpen, Maura put Alessandra down carefully whilst Jane put the drinks on the table before she put the food on the table, "I have breakfast!", she announced as if she had brought gold or some sort of other treasure with her.

"Your Ma is the best!", Frost declared.

"Hey, I brought it up here", Jane replied with a fake pout.

Frost laughed, "But she cooked it", he responded, "She told me this morning that you were coming up with breakfast and warned me not to eat before then".

"Let's go into the meeting room", Maura suggested, "That way we can spread out the toppings on the table and everyone can reach them".

"Good idea", Jane said as the others agreed too.

Maura put her hand out to the little girl so that her daughter could hold her hand as they walked.

Jane walked ahead with the food whilst Frost carried the drinks, and on instinct, the two men waited to follow Maura and Alessandra, it was a protective motion that they had formed over the short time that the girl had been with them. If they walked behind then they could see any dangers and could keep an eye on their surroundings and that of the child.

Alessandra looked around the room with caution and hesitated as she usually tugged at the material of either of the women's clothing until she was picked up and carried but this time she did not do that. This time she took Maura's hand, although with a little hesitance, and started to walk with her towards the meeting room that Jane was already walking towards. The room was not far and they did not have to go out into the busy hallways so she did not become too anxious about her surroundings.

Jane put the two bags down on the table and started to extract the take-out containers that were filled with pancakes. She put each of the containers in front of a chair where one of them could sit although she put Alessandra's between hers and Maura's as she was sure that the child would want to sit on one of their laps as she would not be able to reach the table otherwise.

When the others arrived in the meeting room shortly after Jane did, Frost put the cardboard containers with the drinks in on the table. He looked at the markings on the cup where Angela had written their names on their take-out cups and he handed out the drinks to where each of the people were starting to sit down.

Alessandra, as Jane had predicted, ended up being tugged into Maura's lap where the woman was hugging her tightly.

Jane put the toppings in the middle in their small plastic containers that her mother had put them in before sending them up with her, "Dig in!", she announced with a grin.

"What would you like on your pancakes, Alessandra?", Jane asked her daughter as she sat down in her chair and opened up the container that held the little girl's breakfast.

Alessandra looked around at the toppings and smiled as her adoptive grandmother had included some of her favourite toppings, "Strawberries please".

"Of course, my little turtle", Jane said with a slight smirk, "What else would you like?".

"White chocolate sauce", the child answered instantly as she always loved those two items mixed together, "With caramella fondente pieces".

"That's fudge pieces right?", Frost questioned as he held up the small pot of fudge pieces to the little girl.

Alessandra nodded with a bright smile.

"Yes!", Frost said as he did a little fist pump, apparently, he was rather happy that he had deciphered what the child was saying in what appeared to be Italian.

Sometimes the child seemed to prefer to speak in Italian and sometimes it was just the random word that she would use. Often it was Jane that translated the little girl but the non-Italian speakers had been making quite an effort to learn the language in order to make the child feel a little more comfortable. They knew that her biological mother had been Italian as a result had spoken it fluently within the household and the other family members also spoke Italian although the father had not spoken Italian previous to being with Michelle. He had learned it whilst they were dating in order to try and impress her which lead to him even proposing in Italian.

Alessandra giggled at Frost's enthusiastic response to getting the Italian interpretation correct whilst Jane put the toppings on the little girl's pancakes.

"What would you like, Maur'?", the dark-haired woman asked her lover as she knew that with Alessandra on her lap she would not be able to reach the food items.

"A small drizzle of honey and some fruit, please?", Maura replied politely with a smile.

Jane put the toppings that Maura had asked for on her breakfast before sitting back properly in her chair in order to put toppings on her own, which turned out to be a sugary mess of different chocolate sauces along with chocolate shavings and fudge pieces. At the look on Maura's face at the amount of sugar on the woman's plate, Jane picked up a small strawberry on put it on top of the sugar pile, "There… it has fruit so now it's healthy", she declared with a grin.

Maura rolled her eyes whilst Alessandra burst into giggles and the others chuckled at the Detective's response.

 **A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews and encouragement. I am glad that so many of you are enjoying the story and seem eager for me to write and post the next instalment of their story. I am hoping to have part II up within the next couple of days.**

 **luckypenguinbuddy - unfortunately, it gets a little worse before it gets better but there will be a happy ending for little Allie.**


	52. Tuesday, January 17th - Part II

**A/N: As it will be a couple more days before I finish the interview scene, I thought I would post the lead up now.**

Once the pancakes that Angela had made from scratch had been devoured and after Maura had cleaned the sticky pancake toppings from Alessandra's cheeks and hands, they made their way out of the meeting room and towards the interview room where Doctor Kingston would be waiting for them.

Alessandra was safely on Jane's hip as the Detective had instantly lifted her from the floor as they left the meeting room, knowing that the hallways between the two locations would be rather hectic at that moment due to a large case going on. Jane wanted to be involved in the case as it involved multiple departments including homicide but she wanted to be home with her daughter more as she knew that she needed to be there for her to help her to adjust.

Both women had been granted parental leave on the basis of the adoption and so they did not need to use up any of their holiday time yet but Maura had already decided that she would use some of the time up so that it would not be both of them going back to work at the same time. The idea of one of them going back to work at a time would be more of a gradual change, like stepping stones rather than a full jump.

The little girl leaned her head on Jane's shoulder and watched the movement of people in the hallways as they travelled through the station to the other side so that she could, yet again, be interviewed about her time with 'Santa'.

Alessandra did not always like the questioning but she knew that it was helping the adults somehow so she was fine with it. She did not fully understand how important what she was telling them was as not only had the information saved a life and brought closure to some of the victims' families but the information would also be used for reference for further cases and studies.

The information would be incredibly useful in the study of criminal behaviour and suspect profiling as they were getting a look into what happened from a perspective that they did not often get. It was not often that they had the chance to have such interviews with a child and it was definitely rare to have a child victim who had such an amazing memory due to her IQ level. Each of the interviews were being recorded both with audio and visual in order to preserve the interviews and keep them natural so that Melody would not have to take notes and also so that future agents could watch the interviews and study them.

For a Psychologist within the FBI to be able to study actual interviews it was extremely beneficial as it helped with future investigations as well. When each of the interviews were over then Doctor Melody Kingston would go to her office and type up her reports each time as well as notes from the recordings. She would spend the time studying the tapes to ensure that she had not missed any behavioural cues from the child.

The FBI agents that were observing the interviews would also have to write up their individual reports of what they had observed. They hated paperwork but it gave them the time to reflect on what they had listened to and witnessed in the interview room so that they could work through the information in their minds which in turn helped them cope with any of the more difficult information that the child came out with. The child often came out with information that she did not realise was important or she did not realise implied something much more negative than what she thought it did.

Alessandra knew that she was helping but the scope of how much she was helping was unknown as value of the information that they were obtaining was unable to be measured.

"Good Morning, Alessandra", Melody said cheerfully as they approached the interview room.

The agents were inside the observation room already as they prepared for the next interview and went over some of the details of the case as well as some of the information that Melody had already been briefed on. They had gone over the case beforehand and chosen which photos needed to be shown to Alessandra during the interview and what type of questions needed to be asked although they ensured to leave a lot of space for Melody to improvise questions so that they could fit the interview around the child who was not always that predictable but then again no child truly was.

Alessandra mumbled a 'good morning' and smiled softly at the psychologist.

"Would you like to play for a while in the room?", the blonde woman asked with an encouraging smile.

The child nodded, "Yes, please", she replied politely, "Can I play with dolly?".

"Of course you can", Melody answered happily as she leads them into the interview room that was set up to interview minors like Alessandra.

Jane put Alessandra down and then bent down to her level, "Go into the room and find dolly then we'll be in soon".

Alessandra's eyes went wide and she looked over at the door to the room before looking back at Jane and shook her head, "I don't want to go", she whispered.

"Why not Tesoro?", she asked her patiently.

"You'll go away", the child replied simply.

Jane shook her head, "No, we won't", she responded softly as she ran a hand through the little girl's dark locks, "We would never leave you behind".

It was clear in the child's body language and facial expressions that she was unsure whether or not to believe the Detective yet so Jane scooped her back up into her safe embrace and looked to Maura, "I'll meet you in there", she said softly.

Maura nodded, "I won't be long", she answered as Alessandra buried her face in to Jane's neck and the woman started to walk into the interview room.

"How is she doing at home?", Melody asked the Chief Medical Examiner once the other two had left the vicinity.

"Mostly she's doing well", the honey-blonde woman replied, "She seems to be becoming much more confident with her surroundings and around our family and friends". "She is still having nightmares though", Maura said quietly.

Melody nodded, "That's normal for a child who has been through so much", she admitted, "It is likely that, at least for a while, they will continue but as time goes on then they will lessen".

"Last night she woke up crying for her mother", Maura revealed, "But when we spoke to her she couldn't remember the dream so she couldn't tell us what it was that was wrong".

"For now, I think her not remembering the dream could be a good thing", Doctor Kingston stated as she glanced over to where door to the room was, it was far enough away that the child would not hear them if they remained speaking quietly.

Maura nodded as she thought about what the Doctor had said and sighed softly, "I just wish I could take it all away and for everything to be okay for her", she revealed quietly with an emotion-laced voice.

Melody nodded and briefly touched Maura's arm in a reassuring manner, "Everything will be okay", she said softly, "I won't lie and say that it will be easy but it will get better and she will be okay". "I know it", she stated confidently, "She has you and Jane so keep up what you're doing because you are both doing amazingly well with her and I have seen so much improvement in her over the time that she has been with you both".

Meanwhile, in the interview room, Jane was sat on the floor with a doll in front of her as she changed its clothing for Alessandra as the child had some difficulties in changing the onesie that the doll had been wearing. The onesie was a soft baby pink material with a white collar, cuff, and bow on it. The back was only secured with velcro but it was awkward to get off of the doll considering it did not have the ability to bend its arms.

As the woman changed the baby doll she wondered what it would have been like to have been able to change her son's clothing. She smiled sadly as she looked down at the doll, _Maura would have dressed him up like a doll_ , she thought to herself, trying not to chuckle at the thought as that was exactly what the woman was currently doing with their adopted daughter.

"Thank you", Alessandra said softly as she was handed the baby doll that had been fully changed into the new outfit which was a frilly blue dress with white butterflies scattered all over it.

"Is dolly ready for her breakfast now?", Jane questioned with a smile.

Alessandra nodded as she picked up the baby bottle which had a pink top to it with the fake milk inside. As you tipped the bottle up then the milk vanished inside the top of the bottle making it appear as if the baby had actually consumed the liquid inside of it. The little girl climbed into Jane's lap and leaned back against her as she fed the baby with the toy baby bottle, smiling happily.

Jane wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close to her as she pressed a soft kiss to the little girl's head, watching her 'feed' the baby girl which Alessandra had named 'Rose'.

She had named it that because of the scribble that was on the back of her head in red marker which was a circular squiggle which gave it the appearance of a poorly drawn rose.

It was only a few minutes before Maura and Melody stepped into the room after having their discussion about the little girl's wellbeing. Alessandra spotted them straight away and dropped the baby and the bottle to the floor before running towards her adoptive mother and launching herself at her, "You came back", she gasped in a whisper that was barely audible.

"Of course I did", Maura said softly as she scooped the child up into her arms and held her tightly, "I would never leave you".

"I was worried", she admitted in a quiet voice.

Jane had attempted to distract her with the dolly and the feeding but that had not stopped the child glancing over at the door every now and then as her reluctance to be separated from her parents showed. She had agreed to go into the room with Jane and that made her a little less nervous about Maura not being in her line of sight but it did not fully solve the anxiety that she felt at that separation.

Maura swayed where she stood and held her hand in the child's mass of dark curls as she pressed kisses to her cheek, "I love you", she whispered softly.

"I love you too, Mommy", the little girl whispered back as she snuggled up against her and buried her face in the woman's neck.

Melody excused herself and gave them a few moments to get Alessandra a little more relaxed and comfortable before the interview began.


	53. Tuesday, January 17th - Part III

Maura had sat down on the oversized teddy bear in the corner whilst still holding on to the little girl in her arms who, at that moment, appeared to be rather nervous but she soon calmed down as she rested for a while in the woman's arms.

Jane had sat down beside them and wrapped her arms around them too so that had helped her calm down a lot quicker too due to the comfort offered by the both of them at the same time.

After some time alone for the three of them and after some extra time talking to the team that she was working with, Melody returned to the interview room with a soft smile on her face, "I heard you had pancakes this morning at the precinct", she started with as it was a neutral topic.

Alessandra nodded with a big smile, "Frosty and Old Man was there too", she revealed before stating with amusement, "Old Man got syrup in his beard".

Melody chuckled along with the little girl, "That does sound fun", she responded.

The small child nodded, "Mamma got chocolate on her and then Mommy did because Mamma dabbed her with it", she said with a hint of laughter, "She dabbed me too, I had chocolate on my nose". "That's not where chocolate is supposed to go", Allie stated, "Mamma says it's supposed to go in your mouth, not on your face".

Doctor Kingston nodded before beginning the interview, "Is it okay if I show you a couple more photos?", she asked the little girl, "So that you can tell me whatever you can remember about them?".

Alessandra nodded, already understanding the pattern and the what she has to do, "Okay", she said softly.

Melody smiled encouragingly and opened up her folder on the table before extracting the first photo.

The photo was of a dark haired woman with brown eyes and a tanned complexion who was wearing a cerulean blue bikini and sunbathing on the beach in what appeared to be a tropical destination.

"Do you know who this is?", Melody asked her as the little girl looked at the photo in front of her.

Alessandra moved the piece of paper around on the table with a singular finger as she thought for a moment, "Marcia", she said with a smile, "Marcia came to stay with us at the cabin too but she only stayed with us for a few days".

"Do you remember anything about her?", the FBI Psychologist asked her patiently.

After a few seconds, the child nodded, "She's from Chile", she said with a smile, "Kind of like the word 'chilly' when you're cold but she said it's warm there". "Marcia tried to teach me a little bit of Spanish", the child revealed, "She wasn't there long enough for me to learn very much though".

 _Marcia stubbed her toe on an unknown object in the darkness of the basement on her way back from using the 'toilet' which, in reality, was nothing more than a bucket in the corner with a piece of wood on the top that had a hole in the middle. They had to be careful when sitting down on the wood as it was not only cheap and flimsy but it also had a few splinters sticking out from its surface._

" _What was that?", Alessandra questioned with fear lacing her voice as she curled up tighter to a tattered piece of material that used to be the blanket that she had been taken with as it had been used to cover her head when 'Santa' left the murder scene with her._

" _I stubbed my toe", the woman replied simply as she gradually made her way over to the child who was curled in her bed. The 'bed', of course, not being an actual bed at all but the dreaded hole in the ground. A hole that she knew she would most likely end up in at the end of her 'stay' with the child in the basement but instead of sleeping she would be beneath the ground._

 _Alessandra tilted her head slightly as she thought about what the woman had said for a moment, "But what did you say?"._

" _I said something that I should not have done", Marcia revealed as she inched nearer to the hole whilst reaching out her hand, now on her hands and knees, in order to try and find where the hole was so that she would not accidentally fall down into it. "I said a very bad word", she explained, "One that you should not repeat"._

" _What language was it?", she asked her rather than questioning the demand that she does not copy the word in the future._

" _Spanish", Marcia answered with a smile as she finally reached the hole and then calmly and carefully climbed down inside so that she was lying with the child._

" _I don't know very much Spanish", Alessandra revealed, "I know Italian though"._

" _That's okay, I don't know very much Italian", the dark-haired woman admitted with a smile, "Would you like to learn some Spanish?". The offer came out mostly out of boredom as she did not know what to do in the basement of the cabin and nor did she know how long she would be trapped there for as it had already been three days. On one hand she was wanting to leave and wanting it to end but on the other hand, she didn't because she was certain that the day she left the cabin would be the day that the horrid looking man took her life._

 _The little girl nodded, "Oh, yes please", she said in an excited whisper._

" _In the morning I shall teach you some things", Marcia offered quietly as she tugged the blanket up to cover the little girl and tuck her in as best as she could, "We'll work out how much you know and then I can teach you a little bit more"._

" _I know hola, si, no, horchata, tortilla, churros, burrito", the little girl said softly with very good pronunciation, " la Cerveza, el vino, and el jugo"._

" _That is great sweetheart", Marcia whispered in reply, "Get some sleep now, it has been a long day"._

 _Alessandra nodded in the dark and curled up a little bit more, "Okay", she whispered softly, "Goodnight Marcia"._

" _Goodnight", the woman whispered._

"Do you remember anything from the day that you first met Marcia?", Melody prompted after there had been a long gap of silence as the little girl looked down, studying the photograph that still resided on the table in front of her.

Alessandra bit her lower lip slightly as she thought about it for a moment, "Santa brought her to the cabin really early in the morning", the child revealed, "She didn't want to be there though because she kept screaming that she wanted to go home". "She woke me up", the curly-haired child stated with a pout, clearly she had been unimpressed at being woken up,

"When she came into the basement she was still yelling so I told her she had to be quiet". Alessandra looked up at Melody, "I told her that there was no point in saying that she wanted to go home because it doesn't work like that". "It never works like that… it doesn't matter how many times you say you want to go home, Santa will never let you", the little girl stated, "I tried it… I tried it lots of times but they never let me go home". "I told Marcia that too", she continued, "I told her that shouting and yelling won't get her what she wants". The child looked down for a moment before continuing, "It just gets you time in the box or another punishment like having to stand in the corner with something balancing on your head", she revealed, "Because the shouting annoys Santa and you don't get to go home".

"He gave us both the yucky water that day", Alessandra said with a sigh, "I had to go to sleep too, it wasn't fair that she made all the noise and I got punished too".

Jane tightened her arms slightly as they were wrapped around the little girl who, at that moment, was sat on her lap as she herself knelt on the ground in front of the table acting like a chair as the child still did not want to sit on the actual child-sized chair that was sat right beside them.

Alessandra had stopped talking again and was leaning back more against Jane.

"Do you remember anything else from that day?", Melody asked her patiently.

The child shook her head in a negative manner, "No", she replied simply.

Doctor Kingston smiled reassuringly, "That's okay", she said softly, "Do you remember anything about the day that she left?".

Alessandra looked down at the photo for a moment as she thought about the question that the psychologist had just asked her, "She went home", the little one said softly, "She told me she was going to fly home to Chile to her parents".

What the little girl did not know was that the woman's parents had died six years previously in a car crash whilst on vacation in Australia so, in fact, Marcia had not said that she was going to Chile. Marcia had only told Alessandra that she would be going home to be with her parents. It was her way of saying that she was going to heaven without saying the actual words because she knew that she was not going to survive what she had overheard the men planning.

"Do you remember anything else about her stay at the cabin with you?", Melody asked her.

"She smoked", Alessandra revealed, "She smelled like smoke when she came to the cabin and she started getting agitated after a while then she told me she needed a cigarette". "Cigarettes aren't healthy for you", the child stated, "Mammina said that they're disgusting sticks of gunk".

Melody bit her lip trying not to laugh at the face that the child pulled when she was describing the items that Marcia had been craving at the time due to her addiction.

"Papa used to smoke but he gave them up for Mammina lots of years before I was born", Alessandra continued, "He said that he never wants me to smoke them, not ever so I promised him I never would". "Even if he isn't here to tell me off", the little girl continued, "I won't do it".

Maura smiled sadly, although the facial expression was missed by the little girl, and pressed a loving and gentle kiss on the side of her daughter's face.

"Do you remember anything else about her?", Doctor Kingston asked her politely.

Alessandra thought for a moment, "Her sister's name is Lana and she had a brother called Miguel but he died when he was five". "Marcia wasn't very good at pushing me on the swing", she said, switching topics at a random time like a typical child, "Every time she pushed me the swing went wonky but I think she might have hurt her arm". She frowned slightly, "I asked her what was wrong with it but she kept lying and telling me there was nothing wrong with it", she revealed. Alessandra raised her arm which was still in a cast but she had gotten so used to it being on there already that she behaved as if it wasn't there at all, "Santa hurt my arm when he pulled me up from the hole for me to be on the camera for Mommy", she said softly.

Jane bit her lip and scrunched her eyes in pain at the memory of watching the footage.

 _"Get up", he demanded as soon as he was beside the hole in the ground, the hole that resembled a grave, "Get up and show Detective Rizzoli how ill you have become because she has failed to find you", he almost spat her name._

 _The little girl shook but did not move at all._

 _Her lack of movement angered him, "Get up!", he demanded as he repeated his request in a louder and more forceful tone of voice._

 _Gradually, the child removed the blanket from her shivering form and sat up on the dirt floor._

 _Her face was pale as she looked up at him as well as at the camera. Her eyes slightly pink yet sunken, and she had tears residing upon her cheeks whilst her eyes glistened with more that were yet to be shed. She wore pyjamas that seemed to be too small for her, the trousers were swinging at least an inch above her ankles whilst the sleeves of the top failed to meet her wrists or the top of her trousers, causing her stomach to be slightly showing._

 _It was clear that the child was underweight and malnourished by the appearance of her overly thin frame and dry, almost scaly skin._

 _Despite the nightwear being too small for her, the little girl had barely grown since being taken from her home just over a year previously which suggested that the pyjamas were already too small when they were given to her. She had lost weight over the time she had been held captive, that much was obvious._

 _"Get out of there", Hoyt demanded rather harshly._

 _She was having issues with her concentration as well as paying attention and her reaction times seemed to have been slowed but whether that was due to malnutrition or her illness was uncertain._

 _"Alessandra!", the voice boomed, again echoing around the rather dark and damp room, "I told you to get out of there"._

 _Slowly the little girl nodded before she moved to follow his orders, she seemed to be off balance as she struggled to climb out of the two feet deep grave-like hole in the dirt floor of the basement room._

 _The camera was placed on a small table at the side before the silver-haired man reached down and yanked her up by her arm making her squeal slightly at the pain from the forceful movement._

 _She scrambled up as she was forced to stand by the man when she stood her chest moved up and down rather quickly as she attempted to force oxygen into her lungs. The wheezing was rather prominent and she could not help but cough rather violently as she stood shivering with her blanket still remaining in the depths of the hole._

 _"Santa", she said softly, "I don't…", a cough interrupted her speech for a moment, "I don't feel too good"._

 _"Tell Detective Rizzoli", Hoyt demanded as he signalled to the camera although he was to the side and not seen on camera anymore, "Tell Janie how you feel", his voice said her name as if he were something from a horror movie, taunting her._

 _The little one was crying, she rubbed her eyes tiredly as she looked at the camera just like she had done previously when she was ordered to, "I don't feel well", she said softly, her voice was quiet and timid, "I..", again she was interrupted with violent coughs that wracked her entire body._

 _"And what else?", the man questioned, prompting her to speak more._

 _Little Alessandra Mai Harmon was shivering and she was holding her arm, clearly in pain from the forceful tug that he had given her, "My chest hurts and…", she was struggling to talk, her breathing was irregular and she seemed dazed, "It hurts to breathe"._

 _Hoyt smirked off camera, "Is there something you would like to ask the nice Detective?", he asked the child in a menacing manner whilst the word 'nice' seemed slightly sarcastic._

 _Her curls were tangled, clearly unwashed and were rather long resulting in them covering her face slightly as she looked down momentarily before looking back up again and towards the camera, "Please…", she was cut off again by her body's need to cough, "Please come and find me"._

 _She was almost begging Jane through the camera, she had been forced to do it, to begin with as she did not even know who Detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli actually was but after a while she began to see the woman as a superhero that would come crashing in to save her and take her away from the mean man that she only knew as 'Santa' although deep down she knew he wasn't really the jolly old man from the books her mother would read to her._

 _Alessandra was wheezing and struggling to breathe as she cried in front of the camera, it was not done for the purpose of torturing the woman who would eventually be viewing the footage but simply because the little one did not feel well and that scared her._

 _Hoyt moved to kneel down in front of the camera so that he too was at the same level as the camera and that of the child. His arm went around her, putting pressure on her injured arm which made her squeal with pain, "Hurry", he said in an evil tone, "Hurry Detective Rizzoli, your time appears to be running out"._

 _The last thing that was filmed before the camera was shut off was the little girl violently coughing, almost doubling over as she struggled to breathe._

The feelings of helplessness and horror were flooding back to her as she tightened her grip on her adopted daughter just a little bit more but not enough to squish the child or to cause her to worry. She remembered the signs of malnutrition that Maura had pointed out to them and the preliminary diagnosis of the injury of the child's arm, all of which she hated as she hated the fact that Alessandra had been forced to go through all of that but also she was annoyed at herself for not finding the little one sooner.

"Do you think that 'Santa' did it to her too?", Alessandra asked with her head slightly tilted to the right side as she spoke, "Is that why her arm was sore? Because 'Santa' pulled her like he did me".

"I don't know, Alessandra", Doctor Kingston replied honestly as she knew that it would not be a good idea to lie to the child but, in reality, she did not know the answer for certain as it could have been someone else that injured her or it could have been an injury that she had previous to being kidnapped by the horrid man. Although, the latter was extremely unlikely when the violent nature of the men was taken into account.

Alessandra looked down with tear-filled eyes, "That's not good", she whispered, "I know that hurts a lot when that happens". Her voice was rather quiet when she spoke and it was hard for them to hear her so the agents knew that when listening to the recording that the volume would have to be temporarily pushed up a little higher to hear it properly, "My arm still hurts sometimes", she admitted, "I pretend it doesn't though so then I can be strong and brave".

"You don't have to pretend anymore, Allie", Maura said softly before Melody could respond, "You never have to pretend with us". The Chief Medical Examiner cupped her daughter's cheek softly and pressed a kiss lovingly to Alessandra's forehead, "We love you so much and if you're in pain then we can give you medication to make sure that you're okay", she explained, "Do you understand?".

The little girl nodded as she leaned her cheek against the woman's palm with a little more pressure, "Yes", she replied quietly as she moved to hug her mother.

Maura did not hesitate to tug her daughter carefully into her arms and to hold her close to her, "No more pretending, okay?".

"Okay", Alessandra agreed straight away as she snuggled up against her.

After giving the two of them a moment together in silence, Melody opted to prompt the child to continue speaking, "Do you remember anything else? What about the day that Marcia left the cabin?".

"It was raining when she left", Alessandra stated, "I remember because when it rained water would get inside the basement when it ran down the walls". "It made it muddy around the sides and it made it colder too", she explained, "But it did make it easier to draw on the walls when it was wet". "I don't like dried mud on my feet though", she said as she cringed, "It feels gross". "I'm glad my bed didn't get wet very much though", she continued, "Although when it got really, really wet then it did get wet".

Maura leaned her head on Jane's shoulder, it was hard for them to listen to what the child had been through but they knew that it would have been even harder for the child who had to actually go through all of that herself.

"We had a hurricane one time", Alessandra revealed with slightly widened eyes, "I heard them say it on the tv and everyone left to go somewhere else". "I'm not sure where they went but I know they locked the door because I couldn't get out of the basement", she continued, "I wanted to hide from the wind and stay in the basement but I wanted to get away from the water to go upstairs".

" _Santa!", the child screamed in the empty cabin, "Santa! Let me out! It's raining inside, please let me out". "Come back and let me out Santa!", she cried out as the tears streamed down her face, "It's cold and wet, my bed flooded"._

 _The cabin was quiet other than the sounds of the strong winds outside, the sounds of the trees hitting things, and the sound of one tree, in particular, smacking the upstairs window. The rain was running down the dirt walls of the basement and the hole in the ground that the child referred to as her bed was filled a third of the way as the water had nowhere else to go as it flooded into the basement level of the cabin._

" _Detective Jane!", she called out as that is who she had been told would rescue her one day and that was looking for her, "You can come rescue me now if you want". "It would be a really good time to", she continued, "I need you, please!"._

 _Alessandra begged in desperation to be taken away from the wind and rain, she hated the storm and it scared her, "Please get me out", she cried quietly as she remained partially up the rickety wooden stairs whilst being careful not to get any splinters from the tattered wood._

 _She managed to cry herself to sleep, her body giving in to exhaustion as she lay curled on the staircase with the weather swirling around the house._

 _When Hoyt and the other two men returned to the cabin three days later, the little girl was still trapped in the basement although the dirt around the top of the basement had been partially washed away and the entire basement had been transformed into a mud bath. Luckily the writing on the inside wall of the bed had remained but that was only because the water had not run into the hole from the top but travelled through the actual dirt as the graves that had been dug in the basement gave the water a better travelling path to get through the ground._

 _Eighteen trees outside had been either torn from the ground or broken down whilst many had damage that had not completely destroyed it. The fence needed fixing as it had a tree lying on the top of two of the sections and there were random items of debris that were scattered around the property._

 _The cabin, which was poorly built, was miraculously still standing, or at least most of it was. The roof had been taken off for the most part and the top level of the house was wrecked due to the lack of roofing cover and four of the windows were smashed whilst the back door was missing. Even if the door to the basement had not been locked and bolted then it would not have been possible for the child to open it as there was what appeared to be part of a tree in front of the door which blocked the way for any sort of movement._

 _For four days the little girl had survived on leftover food that she had stashed away, a few random items of food that Hoyt had so 'kindly' thrown into the basement before he left which was simply one chocolate bar, two bags of crisps, and a pizza box with a single slice of pizza along with one juice box and half a bottle of water. When she got thirsty she would drink the muddy water that ran down the walls although she tended to avoid that as it tasted 'funny' to her and made her pull faces._

 _When they finally allowed her out of the basement, she was covered in mud and dirt as well as being soaking wet. Her eyes were bright pink from crying and her voice was croaky from screaming out for the first couple of days until she gave up and only cried out on occasion. Her clothing was ruined, she was thirsty, and the basement was uninhabitable - not that the men cared of course because after half a day she was thrown back down there. Once she had helped to tidy up from the storm of course._

 _As a reward for helping tidy up, she was given a dry blanket and a plank of wood to sleep on so that she would not have to lay in the wet mud at the bottom of her bed. The other reward happened to be multiple splinters, bruises, cuts, and scratches as well as an allergic reaction to an unknown item that resulted in a rash all over her chest. Hoyt never investigated the rash and itchiness, nor did the others as they simply did not care at all._

"Do you remember anything else from the day that Marcia left the cabin?", Melody Kingston prompted her carefully.

Alessandra shook her head, "No, just the rain", she said before pausing for a moment, "Oh.. and a scream but she probably just saw a spider… she's scared of them you know".

 _Spider_ , Jane thought to herself, _I've never heard Hoyt called that before,_ she knew that the scream was not likely to be anything related to a spider which meant that the little girl who was now in Maura's lap had most likely heard Marcia's last scream.

The reality was that she had heard the death of the 34-year-old Chilean woman that day as the rain poured down outside and Hoyt took the woman's life. She had not died instantly but he had gagged her so that she would not be heard by the child who was locked in the basement at the time.

That had been the last day that Marcia had been alive and it had also been the day that Hoyt had ordered the other man at the cabin to bury her on the property. Marcia was buried less than a meter away from the tree that housed Alessandra's swing with the child completely unaware of that fact. She was under the impression that, for some reason unknown to her, the men liked to dig in the ground quite a bit and make a mess.

It turned out that the little girl was often a useful key in making his victims be quiet which resulted in a higher level of fear in them although if he wanted to hear them scream then he would take them to one of his other properties, especially his 'friend's' warehouse near the harbour as it was empty and the owner used it for a similar thing. It had been John, the owner of the warehouse, that had 'gifted' Marcia to Hoyt to begin with as he had the woman in his 'possession' for two days previous to gifting her.

John went by many names including but not limited to; 'Jacob', 'Tim', 'Jason', and 'Keith'. He was a cruel man who often kidnapped women for himself or for others when they 'ordered' a woman from him. They would specify what they wanted and he would get that for him, much in the way that someone would purchase something from a store. He was a cruel and heartless man who had no family or real friends as he was psychopathic with a substantial lack of socialisation skills.

"Okay", Melody said softly, "How about we take a break? You can get yourself a treat from the vending machine and whatever drink you want too. Then we shall come back in here and I will show you one more photo, is that okay?".

Alessandra nodded, "Okay", she said with a bright smile as she got up from where she had been sitting on Maura's lap and started to tug on her hand, "Come on Mommy, Melody says I can have anything".

Maura smiled in return and followed the child out of the room but the child turned at the last minute, "Come on Mamma! It's chocolate time".

Jane laughed, "Okay my little Turtle, I'm coming", she replied as she got up from the floor and followed her daughter out of the interview room.

Whilst the three of them went to the vending machine with money that Melody had given them from a special fund that allowed for snacks and drinks etc for the children being interviews, Melody was in the observation room with the agents.

Melody leaned back against the closed door of the room and sighed heavily, _This may be the hardest case of my career_ , she thought to herself.

"You're doing great", Agent Jackson stated with a nod, "She's giving us a lot of information and you're keeping her calm, well done Kingston".

"I'm just glad that she didn't know what the scream was", Agent Jennifer Summers stated, "I hope she never finds out".

The other agents nodded, most still looking at the now empty room.

"That hurricane was bad, I remember it", Jennifer stated, "I took my kids and went to stay with my mother for a week". "I can't imagine leaving them behind to suffer the storm by themselves, especially not in such a horrid place", she said quietly as she fiddled with her necklace.

The others agreed with her, there was a lot that they did not understand on a personal level as to why it had happened to or around the little girl but on a professional level, they understood the statistics and psychology behind the actions of the criminals.

"Which photo do we have next?", one of the agents asked her, unsure of which photos were in Melody's folder at the time.

Doctor Kingston nodded, "The next photo is of a 26-year-old student; Thalia Haines", she stated.

Agent Jackson took over from there with the information that he had in the file in front of him, "She went missing from campus and the kidnapping was captured on CCTV. She was wearing a light pink blouse at the time along with a pair of jeans". "She was found nine weeks later and had a child's drawing folded up in her pocket of multi-coloured butterflies escaping out of a large black scribble in the middle of the page".

"The drawing symbolises her desperation to escape", Melody explained, "She wanted to be free to go home but couldn't".

The team were grateful that working together the little one had been found and was now home with loving parents. It was good to know that the little girl that they had been searching for was no longer trapped with that horrific serial killer and his so-called 'friends' anymore.

Fifteen minutes later, Melody reentered the interview room where Jane and Maura were both sat at the table with Alessandra on Jane's lap. Alessandra was sipping her drink which was a strawberry juice drink and she had a bar of chocolate on the table that had been opened up with the chocolate inside broken up into pieces. The chocolate left was only crumbs and she had insisted that she share it with both of her mothers.

"Did you enjoy your snack?", Melody questioned as she sat down in the spot that she had been in originally and placed her folder back on the table in front of her.

Alessandra nodded, "Uh huh", she replied simply before elaborating a little bit, "I had a _Hershey_ 's chocolate bar with cookie pieces in it and a strawberry juice. I have shared with Mommy and Mamma though so that they could have some as well because they always share their things with me too".

"That was very nice of you, Alessandra", Melody stated with a smile.

Alessandra simply smiled in response as she leaned back against Jane.

"Are you ready to take a look at another photograph?", the psychologist asked her carefully, "This will be the last photo for today".

The little girl nodded, "I'm ready", she replied straight away.

Doctor Melody Kingston opened up her file and slid the A4-sized photograph forward so that it was in front of the child, "Do you know who this is?", she asked her softly.

Alessandra nodded making her curls bounce a little as she did it, "That's Thalia", she answered, "I don't remember her last name though, but I know it was something beginning with the letter H".

 _One of the bodies to be discovered was that of a 26-year-old female student who had been taken from campus, this time a CCTV feed at the university had picked up the abduction and Hoyt was seen on the footage with two men. One was driving and one grabbed the girl, Hoyt, however, seemed to be quite happy to stand by the side and even smiled at the camera as if taunting the Detectives. Campus security called law enforcement but by the time they managed to do anything the van was gone and so was the girl. She was missing for 9 weeks before her body was found and she seemed to have been held captive for the longest amount of time out of all of the women._

 _Her name was Thalia Haines; she wore a pair of jeans with a pink blouse and in her pocket was a folded up piece of paper. The paper was tattered and torn but marked with crayons. It was a drawing that was clearly done by a child and due to Alessandra's fingerprints being found on the paper it was hypothesised that she had been the one to draw it. The drawing was of butterflies of various colours but in the corner was a dark squiggle. Maura had hypothesised that the squiggle symbolised the location that she was being kept in, the darkness and horror showed in it made tears spring to the eyes of the medically trained woman._

"That's okay if you don't remember her last name", Melody reassured her as the little girl was sat in silence trying to remember the name for them, she was unaware that it was a piece of information that they did, in fact, already know.

"She goes to university and studies animals because she's going to become a vet", the little one revealed with a smile, "Isn't that amazing? She said she wants to go to Kenya and save the Rhinos". "One day, I want to go and visit her there so I can see all of the animals too", Alessandra continued.

"That definitely is amazing", Melody agreed with an encouraging smile on her face.

"That's where she went when she left the cabin", the little girl stated despite it not being true, "She went back to school so that she could finish her studies and go and save the Rhinos". She was unaware that what she was saying was not true and that it had been a lie to make her feel better, "She only had a few months left of her studies which means she's probably living in Kenya now with the Rhinos".

"Do you remember anything from the day that she came to stay at the cabin?", the woman asked her carefully after a moment of silence.

Alessandra nodded, "When she came she was wearing a pink shirt", she said softly, "I remember because it had marks all over it and so did her jeans". "She told me that she had fallen over when she left campus", she said as she looked down at the photograph of Thalia before admitting, "I'm not sure she did though".

"What makes you think that?", Melody questioned carefully.

"Too many people fell over on their way to the cabin or at the cabin", Alessandra stated, "Don't you think that's a little suspicious?".

Melody was unsure how to respond but she did not have to worry about that as the little girl continued.

"I think she got pushed over or pulled on the ground", Alessandra stated, "That happened to me sometimes if I was misbehaving and refusing to go inside or go back down to the basement to go to bed".

Jane tightened her grip momentarily on the child, giving her a brief squeeze before kissing the side of her head in a reassuring manner to remind her that she was safe and that both of her mothers were there for her.

"Do you remember anything else from the day that she came to the cabin?", Melody asked the little girl after a moment.

Alessandra nodded, "She had a bag with her that had her study things in", she said with a smile, "She taught me a lot about animals from her school books and she let me use her pens and pencils too so I let her use my crayons". "She stayed with us at the cabin for lots and lots of nights, a lot more than Marcia did", she continued, "She did lessons with me in the basement so that I could pretend I was at school although the other students were just imaginary". "I liked Thalia's school lessons", she admitted, "They were fun because they were mostly about the animals that she was learning about at school". "Did you know that a shrimp's heart is in its head?", the little one questioned.

Melody shook her head with slightly widened eyes, "No, I didn't know that", the woman admitted.

"Thalia taught me that", the little girl said with a smile, "And she said that snails can sleep for up to three years! I think Mamma would like to stay in bed for that long, it sounds like quite a nap, doesn't it?".

"That definitely does sound like quite the nap", Melody agreed, "Although it might be a tad too long".

Alessandra nodded, "I think it might be too long too", she said softly before continuing, "Thalia liked the Rhinos the most though so she told me lots of facts about those like their horns being made out of hair, isn't that amazing?".

Melody nodded with a smile, she was rather amused at the enthusiasm that the little girl had for the information that she had been taught at the cabin by the young student. "Do you remember anything else from when she came to the cabin?", she prompted her in order to attempt to get a little bit back on track rather than to continue with animal facts that the little one was enthusiastically sharing although when interviewing a child it was expected that at some point the interview could go off-track or abruptly end when the child decided to end it.

"Santa took her phone away", the little girl revealed, "He told her that she wouldn't need it anymore but he didn't take her laptop out of her bag". "Thalia tried to get the internet on her laptop so that she could call someone and so that we could both go home but there wasn't any connection", Alessandra said softly, "That's why he let her keep it because he knew that she couldn't do much with it". "She had her school notes on it though and she had things downloaded on it too", she told Melody, "The battery died though and we couldn't charge it so we didn't get to do very much on it for long".

" _How about we watch a movie on my laptop? I have Anastasia downloaded because the little girl I babysit loves the movie", Thalia said with a smile, "We won't get to watch all of it because the laptop battery is running out but we can watch quite a bit of it"._

 _Alessandra nodded, "Okay", she said happily as she was quite excited at the idea of getting to watch a movie, even if it was just part of one. The two of them curled up in the 'bed' with the blanket and started to watch the movie on the laptop but Thalia did not have to worry about the battery dying as the child was fast asleep before the laptop battery gave out._

 _Thalia sighed as she brushed a stray curl away from Alessandra's face, "You remind me so much of Emilia", she whispered, "We'll get out of here...we have to". She so much wanted to believe that she would but after just a few days of being there, she was unsure. She was realising, however, that the more useful she was to the horrid man then the more he left her alone, all she had to do was to keep the child occupied, keep her happy, and keep her out of his way. On the other hand, she knew that it was not going to keep her alive forever. She knew that there would come a time when that would not keep her alive anymore._

"Do you remember anything else from her stay at the cabin with you?", Melody asked her after a moment.

Alessandra paused for a second before answering the question, "She let me watch Anastasia on her laptop", she revealed, "I love that movie, it's one of my favourite movies".

"We did a lot of drawing together at the cabin and she pushed me on the swings too", the girl continued, "We got to go outside too in the field to pick flowers and make daisy chains but one day they forgot us and we had to sleep outside in the field". "It was very cold outside at night and I got lots of bug bites", she revealed, "I'm not so keen on sleeping outside but the stars were really pretty and Thalia told me stories about stars".

"Thalia gave awesome cuddles", the child said with a smile, "She would give me snuggles all night and she would swing me around in the grass to make me fly like a bird". Alessandra smiled as she remembered the fun that she had with the woman whilst at the cabin despite the two of them being in captivity, "She was really good at making up bedtime stories although all her stories were about animals and her stories aren't as good as Mamma's are". "Mamma changes stories that she knows about Princesses and things to add more fun bits in like Princess Cinderella playing baseball and the dwarves from Snow White being Officers", she said with amusement in her voice and a smile on her face.

"What else do you remember about Thalia's stay with you?", Doctor Kingston asked Alessandra.

Little Allie thought about it for a moment as she tried to remember anything else, "We spent a lot of time outside and Thalia sneaked me some extra food sometimes although if she got caught in the kitchen then she got shouted at by Santa", she revealed, "He hit her once because she stole a slice of pizza for me". "I was really hungry and I begged her for food so it was my fault that she got hurt", the little one said as she sniffled a little.

Melody reached forward and very cautiously put her hand on top of Alessandra's in order to get her attention, "It was not your fault, Alessandra", she reassured her firmly, "None of it was your fault, he did it so it was his fault".

"But I made her do it", Alessandra mumbled.

Doctor Kingston shook her head, "You didn't hit her though, so that means it wasn't your fault", she said softly, "Would you blame someone else if you hit someone?".

Alessandra shook her head, "No", she admitted.

"Then you can't blame yourself for someone else misbehaving", Melody said softly trying to reassure the child that it was definitely not her fault, "Did Thalia blame you?".

The little girl shook her head, "No, she said it wasn't my fault", she revealed.

"There you go then", Melody said with a smile, "It wasn't your fault, Thalia said so".

Alessandra smiled a little happier now that it had been reaffirmed to her that it had not, in actual fact, been her fault that the man had hit Thalia with the back of his hand and split the woman's lip in front of her.

Jane hugged her daughter and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her head, "It was never your fault", she whispered to her, "I promise you that".

Melody waited for a moment before she continued with the interview, "Do you remember anything else about Thalia? Or her time with you?", she asked her gently.

Alessandra nodded, "Thalia pulled funny faces at me to make me laugh sometimes and she was always trying to make me laugh and smile", she said softly, "She hated it when I cried, especially if I cried out from my nightmares and wanted my Mammina or Papa". What she did not know is that the reason the woman disliked those things was mostly down to her fear that the noise would get them both into trouble at night although she did genuinely hate to see the little girl she was growing to love in such distress.

After a couple of hours of the interview where Alessandra told Melody all about their time outside, their time drawing, and the other things that they had gotten up to during their time together at the cabin, the conversation changed slightly. "Do you remember anything about the day that Thalia left?", Melody questioned.

The little girl went quiet but nodded briefly.

"What do you remember?", Melody prompted cautiously.

"She was crying a lot", Alessandra stated as she kept her eyes focused on the photo in front of her, "She told me that she was going back to school so that she could learn more about animals and go and save the Rhinos but she was so sad". "I begged her to take me with her so I could go to a real school and so that I could help her save the Rhinos", she said as she started to cry, "But she wouldn't take me with her".

 **A/N: Thank you to all that have added this story (or me) to their subscriptions or favourites list.**

 **Also an extra thank you to those who have left reviews for me or who have messaged me about the story.**

 **Thank you 'CharmH' who is leaving a review on each of the chapters that she is reading, that is totally awesome!**

 **Thank you to 'sally rally', 'vbbneighbour', 'luckpenguinbuddy', and 'sweetkid45' who never seem to fail to review each chapter and who along with all other reviewers give me a boost to continue with this story. You are all fabulous!**

 **'luckypenguinbuddy' - I do hope that the 'build-up' was worth it.**


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